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2. of other British statesmen & soldiers in India, all must acknowledge this, that it was he who laid the foundation of our Indian Empire.
His descent.
Wellesley was of Irish birth. His family was of ancient origin, but of little or no distinction. His grandfather, Richard Colley Wesley (for such was the form of the name with[crossed out] ^ [hle?] the Marquess himself altered it in his schooldays) received an Irish peerage in return for seventeen years of service to his party in Parliament, & became in 1746 1st Baron Mornington. His son, Garret Wesley, was in 1759 raised to the rank of Earl, also for his political services, though his fame rests chiefly on his skill as a musician. He married in the same year Anne, the daughter of Arthur Hill, who afterwards became Viscount Dungannow; & in the following year was born their eldest son Richard Colley. Everyone has heard of the achievements of his three younger brothers, William - afterwards Lord Maryborough, Arthur - the great Duke of Wellington, & Henry the diplomatist - 1st Baron Cowley. What is harder to discover is the origin of such sudden genius in a family otherwise[d crossed out] untouched by the hand of fame.*
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3.
Boyhood & early life.
A short account of his early life may not be amiss. After some primary Education at Trim, the chief town of Co: Meath, he was sent to Harrow. But he remained there only a few months, being one of those boys to be expelled for rebelling against the appointment of a new headmaster, in favour of another candidate. In 1771, therefore, he was sent to Eton, where perhaps were sown in him & his brother Arthur the seeds of their greatness. He remained there for seven years, during which time he secured for himself the reputation of a good scholar, & gained
* Note to page 2 Hutton in his "Marquess Wellesley K.G" writes of Wellesley's family: - "An ancient family of Irish gentlemen giving birth in one of its branches to the great religious leader of the Eighteenth century, the house of Wesley. He has, however, confused the family of the four brothers - that of Colley or Wesley with the totally different house of Westley, a Devonshire family from which the great John Wesley sprang. Indeed, the noble name of Wellesley was only adopted by the grandfather of the brothers on his succeeding to property, & the family is in reality that of Colley. Curiously enough, however, both families had ancestresses of the Wellesley family. Hence Hutton's mistake.
