death_date parents birth_date tenure article_title name
16 september 1943 arthur wellesley , 5th duke of wellington lilian coats 14 july 1912 11 december 1941 -- 16 september 1943 henry wellesley , 6th duke of wellington
 the duke of wellington
henry wellesley , 6th duke of wellington

henry valerian george wellesley , 6th duke of wellington -lrb- 14 july 1912 -- 16 september 1943 -rrb- , styled earl of mornington between 1912 and 1934 and marquess of douro between 1934 and 1941 , was a british peer .
wellington was the son of arthur wellesley , 5th duke of wellington and the hon. lilian maud glen coats , daughter of lord glentanar .
on 14 october 1933 , he received a commission as a reserve second lieutenant in the coldstream guards , and received a regular commission in the same rank in the duke of wellington 's regiment on 13 november 1935 .
he died , aged 31 , on 16 september 1943 from wounds received in action while leading a group of commandos .
he is buried in the british salerno war cemetery , bivio pratole in the province of salerno , italy .
at the time of his death he was a captain in command of a troop in no. 2 commando , commanded by lieutenant colonel ` mad ' jack churchill .
both no 2 and no 41 commando royal marines were engaged at the salerno landings .
they switched from their initial battle area around vietri sul mare , west of salerno , to a position two to three miles inland of mercatello , then south east of salerno .
the germans held and were strengthening three high-ground positions .
during the daytime of 16 september , no 2 commando moved back though a valley around the village of piegolelle dubbed ` pigoletti ' , which had been cleared the night before , intending to capture a hill at the far end referred to as ` pimple hill ' .
however , in the early hours the germans had sent light forces back into the valley and also strengthened ` pimple hill ' .
on assaulting the hill two troops of commandos were exposed to well-positioned machine-gun fire .
the duke was among the fatalities : leading a charge against a machine-gun post he was hit by a sustained burst of spandau fire .
his helmet was holed in three or four places .
he was buried close to the place where he was killed .
as he died without issue , and was the only son of his father , he was succeeded in the peerage by his uncle , lord gerald wellesley .
his sister anne succeeded him as 7th duchess of ciudad rodrigo .
