| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Mornington | |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for Trim |
| Term Start: | 1757 |
| Term End: | 1758 |
| Predecessor: | |
| Alongside: | Joseph Ashe |
| Successor: | William Francis Crosbie Joseph Ashe |
| Birth Date: | 19 July 1735 |
| Birth Place: | Dangan Castle, County Meath, Ireland |
| Resting Place: | Grosvenor Chapel, London, England |
| Alma Mater: | Trinity College Dublin |
| Parents: |
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| Children: |
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| Relations: | Henry Colley (grandfather) |
Garret Colley Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington (19 July 1735 – 22 May 1781) was an Anglo-Irish politician and composer, as well as the father of several distinguished military commanders and politicians of Great Britain and Ireland.
Wesley was born at the family estate of Dangan Castle, near Summerhill, a village near Trim in County Meath, Ireland.[1] He was a son of Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington (son of Henry Colley, MP), and Elizabeth Sale (a daughter of John Sale, Registrar of the Diocese of Dublin).[2]
He was educated at Trinity College Dublin, and was elected its first Professor of Music in 1764. From early childhood he showed extraordinary talent on the violin, and soon began composing his own works.[3] It was the future Duke of Wellington who, alone of his children, inherited something of his musical talent.[4]
Wesley represented Trim in the Irish House of Commons from 1757 until 1758, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Mornington. In 1759 he was appointed Custos Rotulorum of Meath and in 1760, in recognition of his musical and philanthropic achievements, he was created Viscount Wellesley, of Dangan Castle in the County of Meath, and Earl of Mornington.
He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1776, a post he held until the following year.[5] Like his father, and his mother-in-law Lady Dungannon, he was careless with money, and his early death left the family exposed to financial embarrassment, leading ultimately to the decision in the nineteenth century to sell all their Irish estates.[6]
As a composer, Lord Mornington is remembered chiefly for glees such as Here in cool grot (lyrics by William Shenstone) and some Anglican chant.[7] But he also composed some large-scale music such as the five-act opera Caractacus (libretto by William Mason), first performed at the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley, Dublin on 26 March 1764, and the Ode for the Installation of the Duke of Bedford at Trinity College Dublin, 9 September 1768, for choir and orchestra, of which only an orchestral march survives.[8]
In music he is also remembered as one of co-founders, with Kane O'Hara and Francis Ireland, of a Musical Academy in late 1757, which lasted about twenty years. This was a concert-giving society for amateurs where he directed the choir and orchestra.[9]
Lord Mornington married Anne Hill-Trevor, eldest daughter of the banker Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon, and his wife Anne Stafford, on 6 February 1759. His godmother, the famous diarist Mary Delany, said the marriage was happy, despite his lack of financial sense and her "want of judgment".[10] They had nine children, most of whom were historically significant, including:[11]
Four of Lord Mornington's five sons were created peers in the peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. The Barony of Wellesley (held by the Marquess Wellesley) and the Barony of Maryborough are now extinct, whilst the Dukedom of Wellington and Barony of Cowley are extant. The Earldom of Mornington is held by the Dukes of Wellington, and the Barons Cowley have since been elevated to be Earls Cowley.
Four streets in Camden Town, which formed part of the estate of his son-in-law Henry FitzRoy, were named Mornington Crescent, Place, Street and Terrace after him. Of these, the first has since become famous as the name of a London Underground station.[12]