Henry Colley, born in 1648, was the son of Dudley Colley, MP for Philipstown, and the former Anne Warren, daughter of Henry Warren.[1]
His paternal grandparents were the former Anne Peyton (the daughter of Sir Christopher Peyton) and Sir Henry Colley, who acquired substantial lands in County Wexford.[2]
In 1705, Henry Colley erected a monument to his father Dudley which said that "Henry Colley, now living, son of Dudley Colley, married Mary Ussher, and had issue by her six sons and six daughters; whereof two sons, Henry and Richard, and six daughters, are now living. She was the only daughter of Sir William Ussher of Bridgefoot, Knt. by his Lady Ursula St. Barb, and lyeth here interred".[5] Sir William Ussher was MP for County Dublin, and Ursula St. Barbe was a daughter of Capt. George St. Barbe.[1] The children of Henry Colley and Mary Ussher included:[6]
Richard Colley (c. 1690–1758), who became Baron Mornington;[7] he adopted the name Wesley (Wellesley) upon the inheritance of the estates of his cousin Garret Wesley (d. 1728); he also took the name in right of his wife Elizabeth Sale (d. 1738) as the Wellesley heiress through her grandmother, Catherine Wellesley Cusack (d. 1598), daughter of Thomas Cusack, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who was the son of Alison de Wellesley. Richard and Elizabeth Wellesley were the parents of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, who was in turn the father of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.[8]
^Leigh Rayment's historical List of Members of the Irish House of Commons. Cites: Johnston-Liik, Edith Mary (2002). The History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800 (6 volumes). Ulster Historical Foundation.
^Cokayne, G.E. (2000), The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, vol. IX (new, reprint in 6 volumes ed.), Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, p. 235