WELLESLEY, RICHARD COWLEY, MARQUIS OF, statesman and administrator, born in Dublin, eldest son of the Earl of Mornington, an Irish peer, and eldest brother of the Duke of Wellington, and his senior by nine years; educated at Eton and Cambridge, where he distinguished himself in classics; in 1781 succeeded his father in the Irish House of Peers; entered Parliament in 1784; was a supporter of Pitt, and in 1797 appointed Governor-General of India in succession to Cornwallis, and raised to the English peerage as Baron Wellesley; in this capacity he proved himself a great administrator, and by clearing out the French and crushing the power of Tippoo Saib, as well as increasing the revenue of the East India Company, laid the foundation of the British power in India, for which he was raised to the marquisate, and voted a pension of L5000; he afterwards became Foreign Secretary of State and Viceroy of Ireland (1760-1842).

WELLHAUSEN, JULIUS, Old Testament scholar, born at Hameln; held the post of professor of Theology at Greifswald, but resigned the post from conscientious scruples and became professor of Oriental Languages at Marburg in 1885; is best known among us as a biblical critic on the lines of the so-called higher criticism, the criticism which seeks to arrange the different parts of the Bible in their proper historical connection and order; b. 1844.

WELLINGBOROUGH (15), a market-town in Northamptonshire, 10 m.  NE. of Northampton; has some fine buildings; the manufacture of shoes a chief industry.

WELLINGTON (33), the capital of New Zealand, in the North Island, on Cook Strait; has a spacious harbour, with excellent accommodation for shipping, a number of public buildings, including government offices, and two cathedrals, a Roman Catholic and an Anglican, and a considerable trade; in 1865 it superseded Auckland as the capital of the whole of New Zealand.

WELLINGTON, ARTHUR WELLESLEY (or WESLEY), DUKE OF, born probably in Dublin, third son of the Earl of Mornington, an Irish peer, educated first at Chelsea, then at Eton, and then at a military school at Angers, in France; entered the army in 1787 as an ensign in the 73rd, and stepped gradually upwards in connection with different regiments, till in 1793 he became lieutenant-colonel of the 33rd; sat for a time in the Irish Parliament as a member for Trim, and went in 1794 to the Netherlands, and served in a campaign there which had disastrous issues such as disgusted him with military life, and was about to leave the army when he was sent to India, where he distinguished himself in the storming of Seringapatam, and in the command of the war against the Mahrattas, which he brought to a successful issue in 1803, returning home in 1805; next year he entered the Imperial Parliament, and in 1807 was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland; in 1808 he left for Portugal, where he was successful against the French in several engagements, and in 1809 was appointed commander-in-chief