Waleran De Wellesley

Waleran de Wellesley (died c.1276) was a judge, statesman and landowner in thirteenth century Ireland. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. He was the ancestor of the Duke of Wellington, and as far as is known, was the first of the de Wellesley family to settle in Ireland.Longford pp.27-8

Wellesley family

The de Wellesley family came from Somerset, and took their name from the town of Wells in that county, with which they had a close association (the earliest surviving family record is a charter dated about 1180, now held in Wells Cathedral). The family held the office of standard-bearer to the King, and a Wellesley accompanied Henry II of England to Ireland during the Norman Invasion in the late twelfth century, but evidently did not settle in that country.

Career

Waleran was born in Somerset. He is first heard of in 1219-20, when he was engaged in a lawsuit with his mother about her dower lands at Wells. (he also served for a short time as a justice "in banc" of the Bench). This may be an early reference to the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland), which is known to have existed in his last years, and was often called "the Bench" in the early period. In 1257 the English Crown ordered the payment to him of 20 marks for his expenses. By 1260 he was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland, in which capacity he, with the Lord Treasurer of Ireland and other councillors, witnessed an important charter that year.Richardson and Sayles p.25

He acquired property in Dublin, and considerable wealth: he granted lands to a priory in County Wexford in 1261. He died about 1276, when he must have been at least seventy, a good age for the time.

Children and later descendants

His son, also named Waleran, was in England in 1284, serving the Lord Chancellor of England. He had an estate at Bryanstown, County Meath. In 1297, on the death without issue of the Justiciar of Ireland, William de Vesci, Wellesley, his tenant, was granted a part of his lands in County Kildare, which had been his share of the enormous inheritance of his great-grandfather William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke.Curtis p.171 He was High Sheriff of Kildare in 1303. He was killed in a skirmish with a Gaelic clan in 1303. His father also had a natural son, John Delahyde. William de Wellesley, probably the son of the second Sir Waleran, was appointed Constable of Kildare Castle for life in 1310.Ball p.56 He married after 1317 Elizabeth, widow of Walter l'Enfant, Lord of Carnalway, Naas, the Chief Judge of the Justiciar's Court.Ball p.56

The de Wellesleys acquired lands in County Meath and County Kildare, and the titles Baron of Norragh, Earl of Mornington, and ultimately Duke of Wellington.

A third Sir Waleran Wellesley, probably the grandson of the second, was living in 1338, when he received custody of certain lands from the Crown.''Patent Roll 12 Edward III'' William Wellesley was granted Carbury Castle, County Kildare and the lands and lordship of Carbury in 1382.''Patent Roll 5 Richard II ''

Ruins of Carbury Castle

Irish judges
People from Somerset
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926
*Curtis, Edmund ''History of Medieval Ireland'' Routledge Revivals 2013
*Frame, Robin ''Ireland and Britain 1170-1450'' Hambledon Press London 1998
*Longford, Elizabeth ''Wellington - the Years of the Sword'' Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1969
*Richardson, H.G. and Sayles, G.O. ''The Irish Parliament in the Middle Ages'' Oxford University Press 1952

References

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