Join London tour guide Hazel Baker as we uncover the secrets of the Iron Duke the Duke of Wellington. Discover his ingenious survival tactics, fascinating gadgets, and the surprising story behind the famous Wellington boot.
Episode 140: The Iron Duke: Gadgets, Survival & Innovation
Host: Hazel Baker
Hazel is an active Londoner, a keen theatre-goer and qualified CIGA London tour guide.
She has won awards for tour guiding and is proud to be involved with some great organisations. She is a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and am an honorary member of The Leaders Council.
Channel 4: The Orient Express: A Golden Era of Travel (Episode 1). Channel 5’s Walking Wartime Britain(Episode 3) and Yesterday Channel’s The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Het Rampjaar 1672, Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland and Arte.fr Invitation au Voyage, À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément. Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play: The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play: Secrets of the London Underground (Series 3, Episode 2) and Secrets of the London Underground (Series 4, Episode 10). NPO (Netherlands): Het Rampjaar 1672 – Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland. Arte France: Invitation au Voyage – À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément
Related Podcast Episodes:
Episode 37: Bridgerton and Regency London
Recommended Reading:
Duke of Wellington, the Iron Duke: Key Accomplishments
Battle of Waterloo
5 Iconic Quotes by the Duke of Wellington
The Duke of Wellington: Sword Sticks, Boots, and Battlefield Gadgets
Hazel Baker explores the Duke of Wellington as a practical innovator, not just the hero of Waterloo. Born Arthur Wellesley in Dublin in 1769 into Ireland’s Protestant ascendancy, he grew up in a debt-stricken aristocratic family and advanced through the British Army’s purchase system, pressures that shaped his efficient, results-driven mindset. Against the backdrop of Regency inequality, unrest, and threats such as the Cato Street Conspiracy, Wellington carried a concealed sword stick for personal protection amid a wider upper-class culture of hidden weapons and duelling. The episode traces how campaigns in India and the Peninsular War became laboratories for logistics and technology, and highlights his Wellington boot redesign, a powerful Berg telescope used at Waterloo, a hearing-aid walking stick, and his patronage of inventions as Master-General of the Ordnance, including work with Shrapnel, Congreve, and correspondence about Babbage.
Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome and Hook
01:30 Origins and Hard Lessons
04:27 Buying a Commission
05:53 Regency Britain in Crisis
10:12 India and Early Innovation
13:06 Peninsular War Laboratory
14:47 Threats and Self Defense
16:31 Sword Stick Secrets
19:03 Inventing Wellington Boots
25:00 Battlefield Telescope Edge
30:45 Hearing Aid Walking Stick
32:41 Patron of New Tech
34:55 Legacy and Sign Off
Thomas Lawrence, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Wellington Boot Punch BM 63059001
Unidentified painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
