Architects of Empire: The Duke of Wellington and His Brothers (review)

This is a book that has long been needed. Much has been written about Napoleon and his siblings but very little about the Duke of Wellington and his. The relationship between the Duke and his eldest brother, the Marquis Wellesley, is always discussed in their biographies but until now there has been no systematic account of the interdependence and rivalry among all five brothers. These included the second oldest, William Wellesley-Pole, Lord Maryborough, a minor politician: the fourth, the Rev. Gerald Wellesley, who, even after Wellington and Wellesley became commanding figures, had to be content with a rich stall in Durham cathedral rather than a bishopric, owing to the separation from his wife; and the youngest brother, Henry, Lord Cowley, whose skills as a diplomat were put to good use within the family, above all in conciliating Wellington and Wellesley.

Apart from being a fascinating interconnected narrative, Severn's account is a salutary reminder of the crucial importance of family in the rise of the Duke of Wellington and more generally of the significance of the interplay of personalities and contingency in history. All the brothers, save to some extent Wellesley-Pole, who was adopted as the heir of a wealthy relative, rose from the lower reaches of the Irish by the efforts of the brilliant and fiercely ambitious Wellesley, whose friends at Oxford were closely connected to his near contemporary, William Pitt, who became Prime Minister at the age of 24 in 1783. Wellesley purchased Wellington's first commissions in the army and it was it to their mutual benefit that Wellesley followed Wellington to India as governor general in 1798; Henry as Wellesley's secretary mediated between the ruler and the soldier and William watched the family interests at home. After their return to Britain in 1805-6, the choice of Wellington as commander of the British army in the Peninsula was heavily determined by the influence of Wellesley; but after Wellesley failed to become Prime Minister in 1812 and Wellington (aided by Napoleon's defeat in Russia) triumphed in the Peninsula and then at Waterloo, the rôles were reversed. Wellesley bitterly resented Wellington's success and the breach widened after 1815 with Wellesley's support of reform and Wellington's instinctive resistance, though in practice he supported many important changes. By the time of the parliamentary reform act of 1832 they were merely nodding to each other in the House of Lords but thereafter the acerbities faded and the two were reconciled before Wellesley's death in 1842.

John Severn tells the story of the four leading brothers with great skill and stylistic felicity, interweaving the complex family, political, imperial, diplomatic, and military themes, though it is disconcerting that the pace suddenly quickens between 1812 and the battle of Waterloo in 1815 when the rapid succession of events may not be as familiar to many readers as to the author. There is not much here about the equable Gerald and even less about their sister Anne, perhaps owing to a shortage of material in contrast to that concerning the loquacious Wellesley and Wellington. Specialists may also quibble over some presentations of events and judgements. But this is without doubt the best study of Wellington and his brothers and will long remain the standard account. It is a big book on a big subject and deserves a big readership.