Wellington's Grandparents: Part One

When you are researching a historical person for your own interest where do you start? With his or her birth or do you go farther than this? I decided that I wanted to at least get a vague idea of who Wellington's ancestors were, specifically his parents and grandparents.

In all the Wellington's biographies that I have, the only person who gives any sort of detailed information on Wellington's family heritage is Elizabeth Longford. According to her research the family of Wellesleys originally came from Somerset.¹ She also describes the research of William Lynch, who made a strong argument that the reason for Wellesley family's appearance in Ireland was the fact that a certain Wellesley became a Standard Bearer for Henry II and as such was required to join him on his invasion of Ireland.

By late 14^th century the Wellesley family in Ireland was well-established and gaining in lands and fortune. Unfortunately, Garret Wellesley (circa 1665 – 28 September 1728) could not produce an heir, so he had to choose one and his choice fell on his cousin Richard Colley, the younger son of Garret's maternal uncle.

Richard Colley (variously spelt as Cowley, Cowly or Cooley) was to become Arthur Wellesley's (1^st Duke of Wellington) grandfather. Born around 1690, son of Henry Colley and Mary Ussher, he attended Trinity College, Dublin University between 1706-1714 where gained first a BA in 1711 and then an MA in 1714. In 1728, upon the death of Garret Wellesley, he had his name legally changed to Wellesley (Wesley at the time) and inherited all his cousin's lands and fortune, including Dangan Castle in County Meath. Between 1729 to 1746, Richard was an MP for Trim and on 9 July 1746 he was created 1^st Baron of Mornington (Jane Wellesley writes that, perhaps, the choice of this title was due to the manor of Mornington, an acquisition by a 15^th century Richard Wellesley).

Mary Delany nee Grenville, describes Richard Wellesley thus: 'my hero'... 'so much goodness, friendliness and cheerfulness joined” and “he has no ostentation, no taste merely for grandeur and magnificence. He improves his estate and all the country round him as much as if he had a son to enjoy it (which there is no probability of having).” Despite Mrs Delany's fears, a son did arrive, and she became his godmother.

Richard Wellesley had three children: two daughters, Elizabeth and Frances, and, finally, a son, Garret (the Duke of Wellington's father). To Garret, Richard Wellesley passed on not only his estates and fortune (much depleted by Richard's attempts at improving his estates) but also his love of music. Richard played the violin and was acquainted with Matthew Dubourg (Master of the Dublin Castle Band since 1728), and through him and his post as a governor of Mercer's Hospital, Richard met and was host to George Handel, who gave a first performance of Messiah in Dublin on 13 April 1742. Jane Wellesley in her book states that “it is said when Handel left Ireland in August 1742, he presented Richard Wesley with one of his organs he brought with him from England.”

1. Interestingly enough, Wellesley and Wellington were two nearby villages in Somerset, and both the family name Wellesley and the title Wellington seem to derive from these place names.