Anne Wellesley, Countess of Mornington

Anne Wellesley, Countess of Mornington, was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat. She was the wife of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington and mother of the victor of the Battle of Waterloo, Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

Life

Anne was born Anne Hill in 1742. She was the eldest daughter of the banker and politician Arthur Hill, MP, who sat in the Irish House of Commons, and his wife, Anne Stafford. Arthur changed his name to Arthur Hill-Trevor in 1759, and he was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as the 1st Viscount Dungannon in February 1766, giving him an hereditary seat in the Irish House of Lords. Thus, Anne was only known as Anne Hill-Trevor for a short while during 1759, just before her marriage. Her mother was notably
eccentric, and her financial extravagance was a source of worry to a family already struggling with mounting debts. She was a friend of Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, the famous Ladies of Llangollen.

Family

Anne married the then Garret Wesley, 2nd Baron Mornington in 1759. He was created the 1st Earl of Mornington in 1760. The marriage was said to be a happy one. Anne and Lord Mornington had nine children together, and seven of them survived to adulthood:

Richard, Viscount Wellesley ; later 1st Marquess Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington.
Arthur Gerald Wellesley, named after his maternal grandfather and died at six or seven.
William Wellesley ; later William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, 1st Baron Maryborough.
Francis Wellesley, died at three.
Lady Anne Wellesley, married Henry FitzRoy, Charles Culling Smith.
Arthur Wellesley ; later 1st Duke of Wellington.
The Revd and Hon. Gerald Valerian Wellesley, father of George Wellesley.
Lady Mary Elizabeth Wellesley, died at 22.
Henry Wellesley ; later 1st Baron Cowley.

Lord Mornington died in May 1781, leaving her and their eldest son Richard, who was 21 then, to raise the rest of the family. She disliked Arthur when he was young. She said that he was "food for powder and nothing more" and constantly worried about his future. In 1785, Lady Mornington went to Brussels to live, as a way to economise. She took Arthur with her and sent him to the Royal Academy of Equitation at Angers, in Anjou, after she returned to Britain in 1786. She was granted a pension of £600 in 1813 by Parliament after Arthur's success in the Peninsular War.
Her husband's titles were in the Peerage of Ireland, entitling him to sit in the Irish House of Lords, which was disbanded following the coming into force of the Act of Union with Great Britain in January 1801. Four of her five sons who survived to adulthood earned titles in Peerage of the United Kingdom, entitling them to sit in the United Kingdom House of Lords, while the fifth, Gerald Valerian, became a bishop, giving him precedence comparable to a peer.