The second international congress on the first Duke of Wellington will be held at the University of Southampton from 13 July to 17 July 1998. The Special Collections Division of the Hartley Library at the University holds the principal collection of the military, political, official and diplomatic papers of the first Duke, a collection of more than 100,000 items, besides other, extensive holdings relating to British history of the first half of the nineteenth century. This major international congress is being organised to encourage work on all aspects of Wellington's career. The congress will include formal presentations of academic papers, workshop sessions on research in progress, presentations on the Wellington papers and conservation, exhibitions, a gala dinner on board HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Harbour, and a visit to the Duke's home at Stratfield Saye. The Congress follows on from a similar event held at Southampton in 1987, when 120 people attended a mixture of papers, visits and social events. The keynote addresses will be given by Field Marshal Lord Carver, on 'Wellington: soldier and brother'; and by Professor Neville Thompson of the University of Western Ontario, author of Wellington after Waterloo (London, 1986), on 'Immortal Wellington: funerary tributes to the Duke'. The papers given at the Congress will be divided into two streams, one military, the second encompassing many of the other strands of Wellington's career. The sessions will run in parallel through most of the event. In the military stream, Wellington's Indian career will be the subject of A.S.Bennell, author of The making of Arthur Wellesley (Mumbai, 1997), speaking on 'Failure by deputy: Arthur Wellesley and Colonel Murray,1804'. Bill Halliwell, from the University of Southampton, will address 'Peace negotiations with Shinde and the Raja of Berar', and Professor Edward Ingram, of Simon Fraser University and author of Two views of British India (Bath, 1970), will talk on 'The Wellesleys at war: empire building in India 1798-1804'. Dr Thomas Munch-Petersen of University College London will examine the role of Wellington in the expedition to Copenhagen of 1807. Two overviews covering important military subjects will be given by Dr Keith Bartlett of the Public Record Office, looking at the development of the British army during the wars with France, and by Dr William Abbott Henderson of Jacksonville State University, on 'Wellington and the Royal Navy in the Peninsular War'. Other aspects of the war in the Peninsula will be discussed by Dr John Severn, University of Alabama at Huntsville, who specialises in work on diplomacy and who will speak on 'The Wellesleys and the Peninsular War: conflicting views of the politics of fighting a war'. Professor Clive Willis of the University of Manchester will look at the views taken by the Portuguese of Wellington's Peninsular involvement. The Duke's relationship with Spain will be examined in two papers. Dr Charles Esdaile of the University of Liverpool and author of The Duke of Wellington and the command of the Spanish army, 1812-14 (London, 1990) and The wars of Napoleon (London, 1995) will speak on 'The Duke of Wellington and the Spanish Revolution 1812-14'. Professor Alberto Gil Novales of the Complutense University, Madrid, an authority on Spain in the first three decades of the nineteenth century, will give a paper on 'Foreign military command and early nationalism in Spain during the Peninsular War'. Wellington's role in the restoration of Louis XVIII of France will be examined by Antoine d'Arjuzon, from Paris, who published a biography of Castlereagh in 1996. Military operations are covered by a series of papers. Vittorio Scotti Douglas, from Milan, will speak on 'Spanish anti-Napoleonic guerrillas as seen by the enemy: the papers at the Archivo General de Simancas on Joseph Bonaparte's Kingdom'. Mark Romans, of the University of Southampton, will continue his work on intelligence during the war with an examination of intercepted correspondence as a source. The Peninsular War experiences of Wellington's subalterns will be the subject of the paper by Stephen Petty, also of the University of Southampton. Charles Alphonse Raeuber, from Switzerland, will focus on the battlefield of Bussaco. Professor Donald Horward, the Director of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution at Florida State University will be pursuing the theme of 'Wellington and Massena'. Other papers will include J.David Markham of the International Napoleonic Society, Florida, on 'Wellington's Lost Soldiers: British Prisoners of War'; Dr Charles MacKay of Morehead State University, on the Convention of Sintra; lan Fletcher on 'Wellington and his Cavalry'; and Julia Page on 'The Royal Engineers in Wellington's Peninsular Army'. No congress on Wellington would be complete without an examination of the Waterloo campaign and its impact. Professor Norman Gash, author of works on Peel, Wellington and the Conservative Party, will speak on 'Wellington and Waterloo'. Peter Hofschroer will examine Wellington's relationship with the Prussian High Command in June 1815 and Professor John Gallaher of Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville, will discuss 'Vandamme, Grouchy and the retreat to Paris'. The legacy of the campaign will be the subject of Professor Otto W.Johnston, University of Florida, looking et 'The Iron Duke on the German Stage: Wellington in Grabbe's "Napoleon or the Hundred Days"'; and of Dr Jeanne Moskal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who will talk on Charlotte Eaton, nationalism, and the ninteenth- century pilgrimage to Waterloo'. Byron, who wrote a new canto to'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' after visiting the battlefield in 1816, conspicuously omitted all reference to Wellington: Professor John Clubbe of the University of Kentucky will examine his view of Wellington. Wellington's career after 1815 will be the subject of a number of studies. One group will look at his interest in foreign affairs. As well as representing Britain at the Congresses at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, he was Foreign Secretary in 1834-5 and always the source of advice for his colleagues. Ian Roberts of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, will speak on 'The Duke of Wellington and the British relationship with Russia in the first half of the nineteenth century Professor Muriel Chamberlain, the biographer of Lord Aberdeen, from University College, Swansea,will look at the conduct of British foreign policy during Wellington's administration of 1828-30 and the relationship between the Duke and Aberdeen, his Foreign Secretary. Professor Peter Jupp of Queen's University, Belfast, whose study of Wellington's government of 1828-30 is to be published in 1998, will take a longer look at his views on foreign policy, in the period 1815-20. Dr G.G.Fernandez, Tenneesee Technological University, will consider the role of British mediation in Spain, at Wellington's instance in 1835, during the First Carlist War. Further mixtures of politics and military affairs will be found in the papers by Dr Alan Heesom, from the University of Durham, looking at the Duke's relationship with Lord Londonderry; and by Dr Roger Morriss, author of a recent study of Admiral Sir George Cockburn and the Royal Navy in this period, who will examine the conflicts between Wellington, Cockburn, and the Duke of Clarence, the last Lord High Admiral, in 1827-8. Other investigations of Wellington's political career will be made by Professor Dennis W.Lee, Utica, New York, who will continue his study of the Lord Lyndhurst, the Duke's Lord Chancellor in his 1828-30 administration. Professor Richard Davis of the University of Washington in St Louis and Dr D.G.S.Simes, University of Waikato, New Zealand, will focus on Wellington and the Ultra-Tories in the late 1820s and 1830s. Dr Nancy LoPatin of the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point will consider 'Wellington and Political Unions: Propaganda, Misinformation and the Great Reform Act of 1832'. Wellington, as leader of the Conservative peers in the House of Lords and as a member of Peel's cabinet, in 1841~, had enduring political influence. Professor lain McLean, University of Oxford, in a paper on Heresthetics, or the art of political manipulation: Wellington and the Corn Laws', will look at some of his impact on the 1840s. Wellington's role in Ireland will be the subject of two papers. Karen Robson of the University of Southampton will compare his experience as Chief Secretary with that of William Wickham, focusing particularly on the role of patronage in the period 1802-9. Dr Peter Gray, also from the University of Southampton, will talk about Wellington and the government of Ireland, 1830-50. After the Battle of Waterloo, Wellington held a unique position in British life. Shaun Durham, from the University of Southampton, will talk on attempts to take advantage of his status in a study entitled Influential friend, patron or endorsement: the attempted exploitation of the Duke of Wellington 1819-32'. Jonathan Voak, formerly Head of the Wellington Museum at Apsley House, the Duke's London residence after his return from the Napoleonic Wars, will speak about its restoration. Wellington's campaigns and his political career are today familiar to us from his despatches and memoranda. Dr Chris Woolgar, University of Southampton, will examine these documents in a paper on 'Writing the despatch: Wellington and official communication'. We look forward to welcoming again in Southampton those who attended the 1987 Congress or the smaller event we held in 1995. Equally we hope to see many new faces in July 1998. Back to Age of Napoleon No. 25 Table of Contents Back to Age of Napoleon List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1998 by Partizan Press. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com