19th CENTURY BRASS PLAQUE OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
History
Arthur Wellesley (1st Duke of Wellington)
Wellesley was born in Dublin into the Prtestant Ascendancy in Ireland. He was commissioned as an Ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. He was a colonel by 1796 and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, won a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assay in 1803.
Wellesley rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the Ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which, together with a Prussian Army under Blucher, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellington's battle record is exemplary; he ultimately participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career.
Item description
A very nice cast brass commemorative plaque of the Duke of Wellington who was famous for the Peninsular Wars and the defeat of Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. Measuring 175mm across this plaque has a mounting ring at the top. Nice item for the Waterloo collector