The rubber “wellington boot” is named after the Duke of Wellington, who won the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, defeated Napoleon Bonaparte and helped end the Napoleonic Wars at Waterloo, in present-day Belgium.
The original Wellington was not rubber. Wellington asked his London shoemaker, Hoby of St James’s Street, to modify the fashionable Hessian riding boot. The redesigned leather boot had a closer fit, a lower heel and a simpler shape suitable for both riding and informal dress. Admirers began calling it a “Wellington” boot.
Rubber versions appeared later. In the 1850s, Hiram Hutchinson acquired a patent for making waterproof footwear from vulcanised natural rubber and established a factory in France. The name survived the change in material, which is why modern wellingtons are usually rubber or PVC rather than leather.
A common mix-up is confusing Waterloo with Trafalgar, another famous British victory involving Napoleon’s wars. Trafalgar was a naval battle in 1805, while Waterloo was the land battle that finally defeated Napoleon in 1815.