Anne Wellesley, Countess of Mornington

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.^[1]

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 (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842); later 1st Marquess Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington.
• Arthur Gerald Wellesley (? – 1768), named after his maternal grandfather and died at six or seven.
• William Wellesley (20 May 1763 – 22 February 1845); later William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, 1st Baron Maryborough.
• Francis Wellesley (1767 – 10 March 1770), died at three.
• Lady Anne Wellesley (13 March 1768 – 16 December 1844), married (1) Henry FitzRoy (younger son of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton), (2) Charles Culling Smith.
• Arthur Wellesley (c. 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852); later 1st Duke of Wellington.
• The Revd and Hon. Gerald Valerian Wellesley (7 December 1770 – 24 October 1848), father of George Wellesley.
• Lady Mary Elizabeth Wellesley (1772 – 1794), died at 22.
• Henry Wellesley (20 January 1773 – 27 April 1847); 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.