Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington

Richard Colley Wesley
Died	31 January 1758(1758-01-31)
Title	1st Baron Mornington
Tenure	1746-1758
Nationality	Irish
Residence	Dangan Castle
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Sale
Parents	Henry Colley Mary Usher

Richard Colley Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington (c. 1690 – 31 January 1758) was an Irish peer, best remembered as the grandfather of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

Biography

Richard Colley (as he was christened), was born around 1690, the son of Henry Colley (died 1700) and Mary, daughter of Sir William Ussher. He graduated from the Trinity College, Dublin with an BA in 1711 and an MA in 1714. In the intervening year he held the office of Chamberlain of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland).

On 23 September 1728 Colley inherited the estates of Dangan and Mornington, in County Meath, on the death of his cousin, Garret Wesley. Less than two months later on 15 November 1728 he legally changed his surname to Wesley.

Between 1729 and 1746 Wesley represented Trim in the Irish House of Commons. He was High Sheriff of Meath in 1734 and he was created Baron Mornington in the Peerage of Ireland on 9 July 1746.

Character

Wellington's biographer described him as "a civilised and eccentric country genetleman". The diarist Mary Delany, (who was Garret's godmother) visiting Dangan in 1748 after a 17-year gap, found him "the same good-humoured, agreeable man he was on my last visit", and praised him as the man with most merits and fewest faults of anyone she knew, valuing wealth only as a means to make others happy. He was proud of, and fostered, his son's musical talent: he was also extravagant, and died in debt, beginning the cycle of indebtedness which led to his eldest grandson Richard selling Dangan 40 years later.

Family

The Colley or Cowley family had come to Ireland from Rutland about 1500; Sir Henry Colley (died 1584) married Catherine Cusack, whose grandmother was a Wellesley.

Wesley married Elizabeth (died 17 June 1738), daughter of John Sale, Registrar of the Diocese of Dublin, on 23 December 1719. They had one son and two daughters:

• Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. His offspring included, Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley
• Frances, who married William Francis Crosbie
• Elizabeth, who married Chichester Fortescue

Ancestry

Family of Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington

16. Sir Henry Colley               8. Sir Henry Colley                       17. Catherine Cussack               4. Dudley Colley                             18. Christopher Peyton               9. Anne Peyton                       19. ?               2. Henry Colley                                   20. ? Warren               10. Henry Warren                       21. ?               5. Anne Warren                             22. Sir John Eustace               11. Elizabeth Eustace                       23. Catherine ?               1. Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington                                         24. William Ussher               12. Arthur Ussher                       25. Isabella Loftus               6. Sir William Ussher                             26. Robert Newcombe               13. Judith Newcomen                       27. Catherine Moleyneux               3. Mary Ussher                                   28. ? St. Barbe               14. George St. Barbe                       29. ?               7. Ursula St.Barbe                             30. ?               15. ?                       31. ?

References

• Endnotes:
• .

Further reading

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages – Peerages beginning with "M" (part 5 )
• Leigh Rayment's historical List of Members of the Irish House of Commons

• Lundy 2011, p. 10645 § 106449 cites Cokayne 2000, p. 235.
• Lundy 2011b, p. 10660 § 106593 cites Mosley 1999, p. 2971
• Longford 1971, p. 30.
• Longford 1971, pp. 30–31.
• Lundy 2011, p. 10645 § 106449 cites Mosley 1999, p. 2971