Arthur Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington

His Grace
The Duke of Wellington
Personal details
Born (1876-06-09)9 June 1876
Died 11 December 1941(1941-12-11) (aged 65)
Spouse(s) Lilian Coats
Parents Arthur Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington
Kathleen Bulkeley-Williams

Arthur Charles Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington (9 June 1876 – 11 December 1941), known as Arthur Wellesley from 1876 to 1900, and as Marquess of Douro from 1900 to 1934, was a British nobleman and landowner.

Background and military career

Wellesley was the son of Lord Arthur Charles Wellesley and his wife Kathleen Bulkeley Williams. His father inherited the title and vast Wellington estates on his older brother´s death in 1900, and became the 4th Duke of Wellington.

Wellesley attended Eton between 1890 and 1895, and later attended Trinity College at Cambridge. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment, and in January 1900 joined the Grenadier Guards as second lieutenant.[1] He fought with his regiment in the Second Boer War 1900-02, and returned from South Africa in July 1902,[2] resigning his commission in 1903. He returned to active service as a temporary reserve second lieutenant in 1915, during World War I, and relinquished his commission in 1919, still a second lieutenant.

In 1934 he succeeded to the Dukedom; he was also a Justice of the Peace.

Far right

The Duke was a supporter of several far right-wing causes. He was a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship from 1935 and served as President of the Liberty Restoration League, which was described by Inspector Pavey (an ex-Scotland Yard detective employed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews to infiltrate the far right) as being anti-semitic. When Archibald Maule Ramsay formed the 'Right Club' in 1939, Wellington chaired its early meetings. Ramsay, describing the Right Club, boasted that "The main objective was to oppose and expose the activities of organised Jewry."[3] On the day that World War II broke out, the Duke of Wellington was quoted as blaming the conflict on "anti-appeasers and the fucking Jews".[4]

Family

Marchioness of Douro, née the Lilian Maud Glen Coats, later 5th Duchess of Wellington (Philip Alexius de László, 1922)

Lord Douro married, in 1909, Hon. Lilian Maud Glen Coats, daughter of the George Coats, 1st Baron Glentanar. They had two children

References

  1. The London Gazette: no. 27154. p. 288. 16 January 1900.
  2. "The Army in South Africa - The return of the Troops". The Times (36809). London. 2 July 1902. p. 11.
  3. Callan, Paul (12 September 2009). "Hitler's aristocratic admirers". Daily Express. London. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  4. Farndale, Nigel (15 November 2009). "Stephen Poliakoff: Anti-semitism will always be around". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 September 2015.

External links

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Arthur Wellesley
Duke of Wellington
1934–1941
Succeeded by
Henry Wellesley
Dutch nobility
Preceded by
Arthur Wellesley
Prince of Waterloo
1934–1941
Succeeded by
Henry Wellesley
Spanish nobility
Preceded by
Arthur Wellesley
Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo
1934–1941
Succeeded by
Henry Wellesley
Portuguese nobility
Preceded by
Arthur Wellesley
Duke of Vitória
1934–1941
Succeeded by
Henry Wellesley
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.