Marianne Wellesley, Marchioness Wellesley ( Caton, formerly Patterson; 1788 – 17 December 1853)G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume IX, p. 238. was the American second wife of

Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of ...

, a brother of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister ...

Early life

She originated from

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

, where her father,

Richard Caton Richard Caton (1842, Bradford – 1926), of Liverpool, England, was a British physician, physiologist and Lord Mayor of Liverpool who was crucial in discovering the electrical nature of the brain and laid the groundwork for Hans Berger to disc ...

, was a merchant. The family was Roman Catholic, and Marianne's mother, Mary, was the daughter of

Charles Carroll of Carrollton Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an Irish-American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic si ...

(died 1832), the last surviving signatory of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

Personal life

Marianne first married

Robert Patterson Robert Patterson (January 12, 1792 – August 7, 1881) was an Irish-born United States major general during the American Civil War, chiefly remembered for inflicting an early defeat on Stonewall Jackson, but crucially failing to stop Confed ...

, whose sister

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

(died 1879) was the first wife of

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 18 ...

, Napoleon's brother. The Pattersons (originally spelled Paterson) were wealthy neighbours of the Catons in Baltimore. The couple came to Europe for the benefit of Marianne's health, bringing with them two of Marianne's sisters. One sister, Louisa, married a baronet, Sir

Felton Hervey-Bathurst Colonel Sir Felton Elwell Hervey-Bathurst, 1st Baronet, (178224 September 1819), was an officer in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Early life Born Felton Elwell Hervey in 1782, he was a son of Lieutenant Felton Lionel Hervey and hi ...

, in 1813, and after his death married Francis D'Arcy-Osborne, later Duke of Leeds. Another Caton sister, Elizabeth, married George William Stafford-Jerningham, 8th

Baron Stafford Baron Stafford, referring to the town of Stafford, is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. In the 14th century, the barons of the first creation were made earls. Those of the fifth creation, in the 17th century ...

, as his second wife.

Second marriage

On 29 October 1825 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, following the death of her husband in 1822, she married

, whose first wife died in 1816. Prior to their marriage, they may already have been lovers. The marquess was short of money and Marianne's inheritance may have been part of the reason for his proposal. Her family disapproved of the marriage because of Wellesley's reputation and his several children by his first wife,

Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Roland Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Wellesley, Countess of Mornington (née Roland or Rolland; 5 November 1816) was a French actress who became the mistress, and later the wife, of Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley. As an actress, she was known as Gabri ...

. The marchioness's portrait was painted by

Christina Robertson Christina Robertson RSA (''née'' Saunders; 17 December 1796 – 30 April 1854) was a Scottish painter generally remembered for her portraits of Russian imperial family, representative of Academical tradition. She was the first woman honorary ...

; an engraving by Thomas Anthony Dean is held by the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. She was also the subject of an unfinished portrait by

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...

. In 1830, the marchioness was appointed a

Lady of the Bedchamber Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen , house = Saxe-Meiningen , father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy ...

, the queen of

William IV of the United Kingdom William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

, and held the position until King William's death in 1837. She died on 17 December 1853, aged 65, at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

, and was buried at

Costessey Costessey ( ) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish centred boxing the compass, WNW of Norwich in Norfolk, England. Three dispersed village, centres of population exist: the long-established town/village of Costessey (now commonly Old C ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

References

;Sources ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wellesley, Marianne, Marchioness 1788 births 1853 deaths Irish marchionesses Carroll family People from Baltimore Patterson family of Maryland Wives of knights