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Apsley House

Arthur Wellesley, was a career soldier, and one of Britain's greatest generals. He rose from being a shy boy from a poor Anglo Irish noble family, to become the Duke of Wellington. In 1815 he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Then in 1818 he was offered a seat in the cabinet, which he accepted. What happened then just goes to show that personal qualities are relative to the situations in which people find themselves. Wellington has been judged by many historians as a disastrous politician, and between 1828 and 1830 a terrible prime minister. The problem was that the Duke simply did not believe in party politics. "Factious opposition" to the government was, he felt, not in Britain's best interests. Wellington tended towards the military dictatorship end of the political spectrum. Politics was very different to his earlier life where "I assembled my officers and laid down my plan, and it was carried into effect without more words." (Quoted Wellington, The Iron Duke by Richard Holmes P 272)

 

Statue of Wellington outside Apsley House

Apsley House was used as the Duke's London base for his political career. It was grand, solid, uncompromising, like the Duke himself. Originally built in the 1770s for Baron Apsley, it passed to Richard Wesley in 1807, and then in 1817 to his brother, the by now famous Arthur, Duke of Wellington, who encased the original brick building in stone. Just over the road stands Wellington's statue, cast from guns captured at Waterloo.

For two years between 1828 and 1830 the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister, fighting his last stand for what he saw as old world values, resisting attempts at parliamentary reform. Wellington was a military man who liked everything to run in an orderly fashion. But outside the world of the army Wellington could not use his undoubted talents. He reminds me of Sylvester Stallone's Rambo in fact. "There are no friendly civilians" said Rambo after machine gunning a small town. Wellington wrote a letter of congratulations to the magistrates who ordered in troops at a protest meeting at Peterloo in Manchester. The soldiers opened fire, leaving eleven protesters dead and five hundred injured. His government collapsed in 1830, replaced by the government of Earl Grey. Grey finally passed the Reform Bill in 1832.

Wellington felt that he was fighting for a traditional orderly way of doing things. But it should not be forgotten that he presided over the final years in which government controlled Parliament through such tricks as the return of carefully selected MPs from nonexistent constituencies. History is contradictory, and although Wellington seemed to be clinging to old certainties, in many ways he was also clinging to the tangled ways of the past. Apsley House presents both the stern stone encased facade of a no nonsense military man, along with suggestions in its columns and pediments of a romantic, distant Greek past. This was a past where men could be heroes, like Achilles, or the Duke of Wellington. Wellington presided over British government at a time when one combination of order and disorder was passing, to be replaced by a new one. Today governments leave actual policies to the last moment, and get the image right first. Wellington would have hated that, and no doubt would have seen it as dishonest. But today if someone pays for honours, a practice that was common place in the nineteenth century, the police are called in.

Apsley House is now a museum dedicated to the Duke of Wellington. It is owned by English Heritage, but the present Duke of Wellington continues to use apartments there. Arthur Wesley's collection of paintings, porcelain, sculpture and furniture can be viewed. Teaching services are available.

Opening Times: April 1st to October 31st , 10am - 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays. 1st of November to 20th of March, 10am - 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Apsley House is closed from 24th - 26th December and on January 1st.

Directions: Apsley House is at Hyde Park Corner, London. Hyde Park Corner is the nearest Underground station. Click here for an interactive map centred on Apsley House.

Access: there is wheelchair access to some, but not all, of the public areas. Wheelchairs are provided for visitor use. Audio guides and sign language interpretation are available.

Contact:

phone: 020 7499 5676

web site: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.12679