Garret Colley Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, Anglo-Irish politician and composer best known today for fathering several distinguished military commanders and politicians of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, is born on July 19, 1735, at the family estate of Dangan Castle, near Summerhill, County Meath.

Wesley is the son of Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington, and Elizabeth Sale. He is educated at Trinity College Dublin and is elected its first Professor of Music in 1764. From early childhood he shows extraordinary talent on the violin and soon begins composing his own works. As a composer he is remembered chiefly for glees such as “Here in cool grot” and for a double Anglican chant. His son, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, is the only one of his children to inherit something of his musical talent.

Wesley represents Trim in the Irish House of Commons from 1757 until 1758, when he succeeds his father as 2nd Baron Mornington.

Wesley marries Anne Hill-Trevor, eldest daughter of banker Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon, and his wife Anne Stafford, on February 6, 1759. His godmother, the famous diarist Mary Delany, says the marriage is happy, despite his lack of financial sense and her “want of judgment.” They have nine children, most of whom are historically significant.

In 1759 Wesley is appointed Custos Rotulorum of Meath and in 1760, in recognition of his musical and philanthropic achievements, he is created Viscount Wellesley, of Dangan Castle in the County of Meath, and Earl of Mornington. He is elected Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1776, a post he holds until the following year.

Wesley dies at the age of 45 on May 22, 1781. Like his father, he is careless with money, and his early death leaves the family exposed to financial embarrassment, leading ultimately to the decision to sell all their Irish estates.

Four streets in Camden Town, which form part of the estate of Wesley’s son-in-law Henry FitzRoy, are 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.

Four of Wesley’s five sons are created peers in the Peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. The Barony of Wellesley and the Barony of Maryborough are now extinct, while 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 has since been elevated to be Earls Cowley.