Both the place and exact date of Wellington's birth are open to doubt. 1 May 1769 and Dublin have generally been accepted, as they were the date and place given by the family as early as 1779 and this was the day celebrated by Wellington during his life. However the baptismal register of St Peter's Anglican Church, Dublin records that he was baptised on 30 April 1769 while a Dublin newspaper (Exshaw's Gentleman's Magazine) dates the birth to 29 April in an issue published only a few days later. That ONE of these sources should have made a careless mistake is plausible, but that TWO contemporary written sources should be in error seems highly unlikely, which suggests that Wellington was born on or before 29 April 1769.

None of which matters very much, except to highlight the point that his birth wasn't a matter of any great consequence even within his own family: four sons and a daughter had been born before him - two of these sons died young, including one named Arthur, who had died aged six or seven the previous year - and another three children were born after him.