This article lists authoritative texts about the ways in which Wellington and the battle of Waterloo were commemorated.
If you would like to take your interest in this week’s topics further, the books listed below are recommended reading. For some of them, you will probably need access to a good library — but you will be able to find many of the titles commercially online, and second-hand copies are often available at very reasonable prices.
Wellesley, Charles, Marquess of Douro, Wellington portrayed (London, 2014)
Memorials and statues
Busco, M., ‘The Achilles in Hyde Park’, Burlington Magazine 130 (1980) pp. 920–4
Hoock, H., ‘Monumental memories: state commemoration of the Napoleonic Wars in early nineteenth-century Britain’, in A. Forrest, É. François and K. Hagemann ,eds., War memories: the Revolutionary and Napoleonic War in modern European culture (Basingstoke, 2012) pp. 193–214
Yarrington, A., The commemoration of the hero, 1800–1864: monuments to the British victors of the Napoleonic wars (New York, 1988)
Cartoons and prints
Gaunt, R., ‘Wellington in petticoats: the Duke as caricature’, in C.M. Woolgar, ed., Wellington Studies IV (Southampton, 2008) pp. 140–72
Physick, J., The Duke of Wellington in caricature (London, 1965)
Vanity Fair
Hammond, M., ‘Thackeray’s Waterloo: history and war in Vanity Fair’, Literature and History, 11, no. 2 (2002) pp. 19-38
Wellington and political office
Davis, R.W., A political history of the House of Lords, 1811–1846: from the Regency to Corn Law repeal (Stanford, 2008)
Gash, N., ‘The Duke of Wellington and the prime ministership, 1824–30’, in N. Gash, ed., Wellington: studies in the military and political career of the first Duke of Wellington (Manchester, 1990) pp. 117–38