Lady Anne Culling Smith


Lady Anne Culling Smith was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, and the sister of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. She was the daughter of the 1st Earl of Mornington, and Anne Wellesley, Countess of Mornington, daughter of Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon.
On 7 January 1790 she married the Hon. Henry FitzRoy, son of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton. They had two daughters:
FitzRoy died on 19 March 1794 in Lisbon due to consumption. Anne's brother Henry came down to Lisbon to bring her back to England. However, on their way back, their ship was captured by a French frigate and the siblings were taken prisoners. In January 1795, Anne was freed. Anne remarried on 2 August 1799 to Charles Culling Smith, having two more children:
On 25 July 1814 Lady Anne's daughter Georgiana Frederica FitzRoy married Henry Somerset, Marquess of Worcester, who had served the Duke of Wellington as an aide-de-camp during the Peninsular War. Lady Worcester was Wellington's favourite niece, and her death in great pain on 11 May 1821 was a great blow to him and all her friends. On 29 June 1822 Lord Worcester married Lady Anne's other daughter Emily Frances, greatly to the annoyance of Wellington, who was never close to his sister afterwards. On 23 November 1835, Emily Frances became Duchess of Beaufort.
Lady Anne Culling Smith died on 16 December 1844, at Hampton Court.