The Lord Cowley | |
|---|---|
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| 1st Baron Cowley | |
| Born | 20 January 1773 |
| Died | 27 April 1847(1847-04-27) (aged 74) |
| Spouses | Lady Charlotte Cadogan Lady Georgiana Cecil |
| Issue | Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley Captain Hon.William Henry George Wellesley Gerald Wellesley |
| Father | Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington |
| Mother | Anne Hill-Trevor |
Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron CowleyGCB (20 January 1773 – 27 April 1847) was anAnglo-Irish diplomat and politician. He was the younger brother of the soldier and politicianArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. He is known particularly for his service asBritish Ambassador to Spain during thePeninsular War where he acted in cooperation with his brother to gain the support ofCortes of Cádiz. His later postings included beingAmbassador in Vienna where he dealt withMetternich andBritish Ambassador to France during the reign ofLouis Philippe I.
His career was closely connected with that of his elder brothers Arthur andRichard Wellesley, who served asForeign Secretary between 1809 and 1812. He became embroiled in a public scandal in 1809 when his wifeCharlotte eloped withHenry Paget who as Lord Uxbridge was later to serve ascavalry commander under his brother at theBattle of Waterloo.
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Wellesley was the fifth and youngest son ofGarret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, byAnne Hill-Trevor, eldest daughter ofArthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon, both families ofAnglo-Irish descent. He was the younger brother ofArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington,Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, andWilliam Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington. He was educated atEton and at the court of theDuke of Brunswick. He purchased anensigncy in the40th Foot in 1790.
Wellesley's diplomatic career began in 1791 when he was appointedattaché to the British embassy atThe Hague. The next year, he became Secretary ofLegation inStockholm. In 1791, he exchanged into the1st Foot Guards and in 1793, he purchased aLieutenancy. In 1794, while on a trip home fromLisbon with his sisterAnne, he was captured by the French, and remained in prison during theheight of the terror, escaping only in 1795. Later that year, he sat for theTrim constituency in theIrish House of Commons.
At the1807 general election he was elected to theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom as aMember of Parliament both for theAthlone constituency[1] in Ireland, and forEye constituency in England.[2]He chose to sit for Eye, and held the seat until hisresignation in 1809[2] by taking theChiltern Hundreds.
In 1797, Wellesley accompaniedLord Malmesbury as secretary on his unsuccessful mission to negotiate peace with the French atLille. Later that year, he travelled toIndia, where he became private secretary to his oldest brother,Lord Mornington, the new governor-general. He was in India between 1797 and 1799, and again from 1801 to 1802, and was a useful assistant to his brother in a variety of diplomatic capacities, negotiating treaties withMysore andOudh.[citation needed]
In 1802 he returned to Europe, and the next year marriedLady Charlotte Cadogan, by whom he had three sons and a daughter before she abandoned him in 1809, running off withLord Paget, a talented cavalry officer. They divorced in 1810. Although, at first, Paget's career was badly affected by the affair, as he was later unable to serve under Wellesley's brother Wellington in thePeninsular War due to the bad blood, Paget later distinguished himself under Wellington at Waterloo.[citation needed]
In 1809, Wellesley became the British envoy to Spain – his eldest brother, by now Marquess Wellesley, was now Foreign Secretary, while his brother Arthur (now Viscount Wellington) was the commander of the Anglo-Portuguese forces in the Iberian Peninsula. Together, the three brothers helped to make the Peninsular campaign a success, and in 1812 Wellesley was knighted. He remained Ambassador to Spain until 1821, but found time to marry again, this time to Lady Georgiana Cecil, daughter of theMarquess of Salisbury.[citation needed]
In 1823, Wellesley became Ambassador toAustria, where he remained until 1831. Although he was close acquaintances with Foreign SecretaryGeorge Canning, who had asked Wellesley to serve as his second in his duel withLord Castlereagh, Wellesley felt that Canning did not appreciate his services, feeling him to be too conciliatory.[citation needed]
In January 1828, Wellesley was created Baron Cowley, of Wellesley in the County of Somerset, due to his brother Wellington's influence with the prime minister,Lord Goderich. His final diplomatic service was inParis, where he served asBritish ambassador to France duringRobert Peel's administrations in 1835 and 1841–46. In 1846, Cowley retired, but remained in Paris, where he died the next year.[citation needed]
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Cowley marriedLady Charlotte, daughter ofCharles Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan in 1803, but they divorced in 1810 after she ran away withHenry Paget, Lord Paget, later 1stMarquess of Anglesey. He later remarried, to Lady Georgiana Cecil, daughter ofJames Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury.
His eldest son,Henry Richard Charles Wellesley, followed in his father's footsteps as a diplomatist, holding the Paris embassy for fifteen years, and was eventually createdEarl Cowley. Another son,Gerald Valerian Wellesley, becameDean of Windsor. His second son William became a captain in theRoyal Navy.
Media related toHenry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley at Wikimedia Commons
| Parliament of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forTrim 1795 With:Arthur Wesley | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAthlone 1807 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forEye 1807–1809 With:James Cornwallis Mark Singleton | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | British Ambassador to Spain 1809–1821 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | British Ambassador to Austria 1823–1831 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | British Ambassador to France 1835 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | British Ambassador to France 1841–1846 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Cowley 1828–1847 | Succeeded by |
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