Wellesley family
The Wellesley family is an Irish noble family of Anglo-Saxon origin from Somerset which derived its name from the city of Wells in that county, with which they had a close association. The family held the office of hereditary standard-bearer of Ireland to the King. A Wellesley accompanied King Henry II of England to Ireland in 1172 during the Hiberno-Norman Invasion and for this service received large grants of land in County Meath and Kildare.
According to Burke's peerage, the family can trace its unbroken lineage back to Waleran de Wellesley. Waleran was an itinerant justice, and became first itinerant justice in 1255. He was the first member of the family to settle in Ireland. Although, it has been suggested that the first known Wellesley, Guy, was made a Thegn by Athelstan in 938 and also resided near Wells in Somerset. Waleran's male line descendants went extinct with the death of Garret Wesley in 1728. However, the Wellesley estates and arms were inherited by a cousin Richard Colley, the future Baron Mornington, who descended from this family through female line.