DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 143, 19 June 1934, Page 7

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

D'jath on Anniversary of Waterloo. GREAT GENERAL'S GRANDSON. (Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 18. The death is announced of Arthur Charles Wcllesley, fourth Duke of Wellington, grandson of the famous English general who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. The Duke, who was aged 85 last March, died on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. As a result of the Peninsular War and the Waterloo success (June 18, 1815), the first Duke of Wellington became possessed of many large estates in both England and Spain, and holder or many titles in England, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. When the present Duke succeeded his brother in 1900 lie inherited 18,600 acres in England, and an even larger area in Spain and Portugal, also the English titles of Baron Mornington (174(i), Earl of Mornington and Viscount Wellesley (1760), Viscount Wellington, Baron Douro (1809), Earl of Wellington (1812, February), Marquess of Wellington (1812, October), Marquess Douro (1814), and Duke of Wellington (1814); the Portuguese titles of Conde do Vimeiro, Marquez de Torres Vendras and Duque da Victoria; the Spanish titles of Duque do Ciudad Rodrigo, and Grandee of the Ist class; and the Netherlands title of Prince of Waterloor The new Duke is his eldest son, the Marquess Douro, aged 58, whose heir in the marquisate is the Earl of Mornington, aged 22. The sth Duke is married to a daughter of Lord Glentanar, one of the millionaire Coats family of spinners of Paisley. The abdication of King Alfonso XIII. of Spain in April, 1931, caused an interesting position to arise in respect to the Duke of Wellington's Spanish estates. When the Republicans found their longwanted excuse to confiscate the nobjes' vast uncultivated estates, the Duke immediately offered to sell his lands to the Government. The latter refused, however, on the grounds that not only were his areas under intense cultivation, but they were awarded to his ancestor as a reward for services rendered to the nation. No attempt was therefore made to seize the properties.