The Duke of Wellington is famous as a military commander, but he was also a major politician during the early 19th century, becoming Prime Minister twice.
He began his political career in 1790, when he became a member of the Irish Parliament. He sat there until 1797, but concentrated on his military career, especially in India. He entered the British Parliament in April 1806, for Rye, so he could defend the policies of his brother, then Governor General of India. Not a natural party politician, he described it as ‘a most difficult and unpleasant game I have had to play in the present extraordinary state of parties’.
After a period out of the House, he returned as a member for Mitchell in Cornwall in a by-election in January 1807, but switched seats to Newport, Isle of Wight at the general election later that year. As well as being made Chief Secretary for Ireland that April, he also resumed his military career, taking command in the Peninsular War. This multi-tasking eventually led him to resign as an MP in April 1809, and, in September, he was made a peer.
After final victory over Napoleon at Waterloo, and the occupation of France, he rejoined the Tory Government, serving in various Cabinet posts between 1819 and 1846. He became Prime Minister in 1828, holding the post for the next 3 years. His second stint as PM in 1834 lasted only 22 days, acting as ‘caretaker’ pending Sir Robert Peel’s return from Rome to take up the office.
His connection with the town of Wellington began in 1809 when he was looking for a title. His elder brother had already used the family name for his own peerage in 1797, so a younger brother, William, scoured a gazetteer to find a geographical name close to ‘Wellesley’, and came up with ‘Wellington’. In 1813 the Government arranged for the purchase of the two manors of Wellington Borough and Wellington Landside to provide him with a suitable local estate. He only visited the town of Wellington once, to view his estates, on 28 September 1819, where “the townspeople bodily towing his carriage to the limits when he left for Exeter”.
The history of the Wellington Monument is a sorry tale. It was first discussed only three months after Waterloo, at a meeting chaired by the person whose idea it was, William Ayshford Sanford of Nynehead. They settled on a location at the highest point on the Duke’s estate, and established a subscription list.
Over the next four years, some progress was made, but money soon ran out, and despite further appeals, the project was effectively dropped in 1829, ironically during the Duke’s first premiership. Two years later, his opposition to the Great Reform Bill led to him being burnt in effigy in the town. The unfinished Monument fared little better, being badly damaged by lightning in 1846.
The project was revived in 1852, on the Iron Duke’s death, by Arthur Kingslake of Taunton. Work resumed on a modified, affordable scheme, and the Monument was raised to 170 ft.
Since then there have been many expensive repairs to the Monument, including those in 1890-2 which raised the height to 175 ft. A Grade II* listed building, and run by the National Trust since 1934, it is the tallest triangular obelisk in the world. It was closed to public access a decade ago, for safety reasons, and there has been pressure in Parliament and beyond for its repair and restoration.
© JB Seatrobe (Barry K Winetrobe & Janet Seaton) 2018. A version of this article was published originally in the Apr 2016 issue of the Somerset Leveller, #12.