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Wellington Statue Aldershot
The Wellington statue in Aldershot is a monument to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, victor at the Battle of Waterloo and later prime minister of the United Kingdom. Sculpted by Matthew Cotes Wyatt, it was the largest equestrian statue in Britain when it was unveiled at its original location on the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner in 1846. Origins In 1837 a committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Duke of Rutland to raise sufficient funds for a memorial to the Duke of Wellington. The sculptor was Matthew Cotes Wyatt. In the statue Wellington is shown on Copenhagen, the famous charger he had ridden at Waterloo. Much of the bronze in the statue is derived from French cannon captured at Waterloo and remelted in Wyatt's foundry. Wellington himself sat for the sculptor; Copenhagen, however, had died and a substitute horse was used as a model. This offended many at the time, who saw a poor likeness to Copenhagen in the statue. The position selected for the scul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who won and ended the Napoleonic Wars when the coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Wellesley was born in Dublin into the Protestant 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 Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
