Governor-General of India (1798-1805) and elder brother of the Duke of Wellington — who dramatically expanded British power in India through a combination of war, diplomacy, and subsidiary alliances.
The Wellesley doctrine of British India: as Governor-General, Richard Wellesley established the 'subsidiary alliance' system that brought Indian princely states under British suzerainty without formal annexation — forcing them to station British troops at their own expense, effectively making them British protectorates. He defeated Tipu Sultan (1799), subdued the Maratha Confederation, and roughly doubled the territory under British influence. The institutional and strategic framework he established governed British India for the next century.
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