Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington


Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, , styled Lord Gerald Wellesley between 1900 and 1943, was an Anglo-Irish diplomat, soldier, and architect.

Background and education

Wellesley was the third son of Lord Arthur Wellesley and Lady Arthur Wellesley. He was baptised at St Jude's Church of Ireland parish church, Kilmainham, Dublin, on 27 September 1885. He was educated at Eton.

Career

Wellesley served as a diplomat in the Diplomatic Corps in 1908. He held the office of Third Secretary of the Diplomatic Service between 1910-17, and the office of Second Secretary of the Diplomatic Service between 1917-19. He was invested as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1921, and as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1935, and was Surveyor of the King's Works of Art, 1936–43. He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1939 in the service of the Grenadier Guards. He fought in the Second World War between 1939–45. As a somewhat elderly officer with a spinsterish manner, he earned the nickname'The Iron Duchess', but his diplomatic skills proved invaluable in dealing with the Allies.
In 1943, he succeeded his nephew Henry as Duke of Wellington, Earl of Mornington, and Prince of Waterloo. His nephew's other title, Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, passed to Henry's sister Lady Anne Rhys, before she ceded it to him in 1949. He served as Lord Lieutenant of the County of London between 1944–49 and as Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire between 1949-60. In 1951 he was made a Knight of the Garter.

Architecture projects

Among his architecture projects was the remodeling of the London home of Anglo-American member of Parliament Henry "Chips" Channon. Working with Trenwith Wills, Wellesley also remodeled Castle Hill, Filleigh, in Devon; Hinton Ampner in Hampshire; and Biddick Hall in County Durham and St Mary and St George Church in High Wycombe.. Wellesley also designed the Faringdon Folly tower for Lord Berners and built Portland House in Weymouth in 1935.

Books

He was the author of the following books :
Wellesley was bisexual or homosexual, but married Dorothy Violet Ashton on 30 April 1914. The marriage was unhappy and they separated in 1922 but never divorced.
She was the daughter of Robert Ashton of Croughton, Cheshire heirs of a cotton manufacturing family and Cecilia Dunn-Gardner, later Countess of Scarbrough. Her stepfather from 1899 was Aldred Lumley, 10th Earl of Scarbrough. They had two children:
Dorothy, a poet, became the lover of Vita Sackville-West,. Wellesley had been engaged to Sackville-West's lover Violet Trefusis. Dorothy later became the lover and long-time companion of Hilda Matheson, a prominent BBC producer.
After his wife's death in 1956, Wellesley reportedly wished to marry his widowed sister-in-law, Lady Serena James, but she did not wish to leave her marital home. Wellesley was the maternal grandfather of the actor and musician Jeremy Clyde. His probate was sworn in the year of his death at.