Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was born in County Dublin, Ireland to the Earl and Countess of Mornington, beginning the life of the man who would defeat Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. Fatherless at an early age and neglected by his mother, he was a reserved child who wanted music but joined a Highland regiment instead. He rose from private classes in Brussels and a military school in Angers to command campaigns in Portugal and France, becoming Duke of Wellington in 1814 and hero of Britain after Waterloo.