SEVENTH DUKE OF WELLINGTON

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29714, 6 January 1962, Page 8

SEVENTH DUKE OF WELLINGTON

Arrival In January For 10-Day N.Z. Tour [From the London Correspondent of ’‘The Press”] LONDON, December 29. The Duke of Wellington will arrive in Auckland from Australia on January 11 for a lt)-day tour of New Zealand. It is expected that he' will visit Wellington on January 11 after spending some time at Wairakei. He is Gerald Wellesley, K.G., the seventh Duke of Wellington, and is a. lieutenant-colonel in the Grenadier Guards. His seat in England is Stratfield Save House, near Reading, and his town residence is the famous Apsley House, Piccadilly, which today harbours the celebrated Wellington Museum and is often spoken of as “Number One, London.” The origin of this address of Apsley House has not been traced, but it is thought to have been derived from the fact that a century or more ago the residence would have been the first large London house met On arrival from the west.

Born on August 21, 1885, the Duke of Wellington is 76 years bf age, and he succeeded to the title in 1943. Some of the other titles held by the present Duke were of course conferred on the first Duke of Wellington, the renowned Iron Duke, for his victories against Napolean. The Duke of Wellington is also’ Prince of Waterloo in the Netherlands, Duque da Victoria . and Marquez de Torres, Vedras and Conde de Vimeiro in Portugal, and Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo and a Grandee (First Class) in Spain which be became on the renunciation of this title in his favour by his niece. Lady Anne Rhys, in 1949. In ’914 he married Dorothy, daughter of the late Robert Ashton, of Groughton, flheshire. His wife died in 956; but there are two children living, his son and 'the heir to the title, Arthur Valerian, Marquess Douro, M.V.0., , M.C. formerly a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Horse Guards who commands The 22nd Armoured Brigade, and a daughter. Lady Elizabeth, who is married to Captain Thomas Clyde, of the Horse Guards. He has several grandchildren. A Distinguished Career Educated at Eton, the Duke of Wellington is an hon. LL.D, of Southampton University, a patron of four livings, and a former official in the diplomatic service. He was surveyor of His Majesty’s Works of Art from 1936 to 1944, Lord-Lieutenant of the County of London from 1944-1949, LordLieutenant of Hampshire in 1949, a trustee of the National Gallery in 1950, Chancellor of Southampton University in 1951 and Governor of the Isle of Wight in 1956. During the Second World War he served i i France, the Middle East, and Italy. He has won considerable distinction as an author, specially of books about the Iron Duke.

of Apsley House will survive until the title becomes extinct. It is the custom of the pre. sent Duke of Wellington to reside at Apsley House when he is attending the House of Lords. The Wellington Museum, as Apsley House is called, is, in fact, a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and it first became open to the public on July 19, 1952 —a treasure house of fabulous material. Great Historical Interest There are eight important rooms and galleries housing almost 2000 objects of great historical interest; paintings by celebrated artists, some of which were bought by, or given to, the Duke of Wellington and those captured at the Battle of Vittoria in 1813; standards and flags; orders and decorations; plate and porcelain; furniture; battons; swords, including that which he carried at Waterloo; and a multiplicity