Batons of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (c. 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), acquired many titles and honours including the rank of field marshal or equivalent in eight nations' armies. Each nation provided him with a baton as a symbol of his rank. The surviving batons are on display at Apsley House the former London residence of the Dukes of Wellington.

At Wellington's funeral his military ranks were described as:

At Wellington's lying in state, his batons of military rank were placed alongside the coffin on eight velvet cushions each on a pedestal on gold lion supporters. The pedestals were more than two feet in height, each bearing the shield and banners of their respective nations. On two additional similar pedestals were placed Wellington's standard and guidon. The batons were described thus:

For many years the batons were all on display at Apsley House. However, on 9 December 1965 there was a robbery in which three items were stolen, one of which was the Russian Marshal's Baton. It has not been recovered.

The seven remaining field marshal batons along with two more British batons (one presented to the Duke in 1821 by George IV) are on permanent display at Apsley House:

Above the fireplace is a frame (1981) containing ten of the Duke's batons - British (three, one presented by the Prince Regent in 1813), Portuguese (1809), Hanoverian (1844), Dutch, Spanish (1808), Austrian (1818), and Prussian, together with his staff as High Constable of England (1837 to 1838).

The 1813 baton is described as English and not British because engraved on the end of it are the following words:

The English baton was presented to the future Duke of Wellington for his military successes, but more specifically because after his victory at Vittoria he presented the captured Marshal's baton of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan to George, the Prince Regent (at the time Prince Regent as his father George III was deemed too mentally ill to govern). The Prince Regent wrote to Wellington "You have sent me among your trophies of unrivalled fame the staff of a French marshal, and I send you in return that of England."

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