WELLINGTON Arthur Wellesley Duke of - ALS 1805
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of WELLINGTON (1769-1852)
Autograph Letter Signed (“Arthur Wellesley”) to Viscount Gosford, giving news of Gosford’s sister, Lady William Bentinck.
3 pages 4to with address leaf and red wax seal, Thomas’ Hotel, Berkeley Square, 18 September 1805.
“I send by the post some letters for your Lordship & Lady Gosford, with which I was entrusted by Lady Wm Bentinck & Edward. They should have been sent to you on the day I arrived, only that I could not learn where you was; & Mrs. Sparrow who wrote to me on purpose to give me the information respecting your residence in the Country which I had required, entirely omitted it. . . I have the pleasure to inform you that I left Lady William much better than she had been, though still not strong. She embarked from Madras at the same time with me, to go to Colombo on the Island of Ceylon, where she proposed to pass the hot months of March April May June & July, & she was to return to Madras in August. . . I have a parcel for your youngest daughter . . .”
Wellington, or Arthur Wellesley as he still was, returned from India in September 1805, a considerably wealthier man than when he left, but more importantly, a man of some renown following his victory at Assaye.
Lord William Bentinck, as Governor of Madras during Wellesley’s period in India, had been able to provide welcome logistical support. Interestingly, Bentinck was present at the battle of Marengo in 1800, and would therefore have been well aware of Napoleon’s abilities at a time when Wellington was still serving in India.
Thomas’ Hotel was located at 25 Berkeley Square, where it remained until the late nineteenth century. It was conveniently close to the establishment in Berkeley Street run by Mrs. Porter, through whom Wellington met the famous courtesan Harriette Wilson.
Seal tear on the address leaf and final page, affecting two words of the text.
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