ABSTRACT
Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, army officer and lord lieutenant of Hampshire, was not only the hero of the Battle of Waterloo, but one of the two heroes of Harriet Arbuthnot’s Journal. Charles Greville was private secretary to Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies during the Liverpool ministry, member of the most influential political circles, and an outspoken political and social diarist. Greville was also the King-in-Council’s clerk and so was present at the meetings of the ‘hanging cabinet.’ In his July 1829 diary entry, Greville indicates that the King leant to the side of mercy, whereas Lord Tenterden, chief justice since 1818, was reluctant to recommend mercy.
