Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, KG,DL,FRIBA (21 August 1885 – 4 January 1972), 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 (later 4th Duke of Wellington) and Lady Arthur Wellesley (later Duchess of Wellington, née Kathleen Bulkeley Williams). He was baptised at St. Jude's Church (Church of Ireland), Kilmainham, Dublin, on 27 September 1885.[1] He was educated at Eton.
As a somewhat elderly officer with a spinsterish manner, he earned the nickname 'The Iron Duchess.'[citation needed] Simon Heffer, Editor of Chips Channon's diaries Volume 3 in 2022, records that the nickname was devised by Army colleagues as he was gay.
The Iconography of the First Duke of Wellington (1935)
The Diary of a Desert Journey (1938)
The Journal of Mrs. Arbuthnot (1950)
A Selection from the Private Correspondence of the First Duke of Wellington (1952)
Wellington Museum
In 1947 the Duke gave Apsley House and its important contents (Wellington Collection) to the nation with Wellington Museum Act (but retained the right to occupy a large portion for him and his family)
The marriage was unhappy and they separated in 1922,[9] but never divorced. Dorothy, a poet, was a lesbian. She became the lover of Vita Sackville-West,[10] (who wrote her entry for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).[11] before becoming the lover and long-time companion of Hilda Matheson, a prominent BBC producer.[9] Interestingly, Wellesley had been engaged to Sackville-West's former lover Violet Trefusis before marrying Dorothy.[9] Wellesley himself was rumoured to be bisexual or homosexual, but this belief stems largely from certain effeminate mannerisms, and there is no record of any male lover.[12][13][14]
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.[15]
Wellesley died early in 1972. His probate was sworn in the year of his death at £529,260 (equivalent to about £8,800,000 in 2023).[16] He was succeeded in his titles and estates by his only son, Valerian.
References
^"Irish Genealogy". Churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 19 May 2016.