Henry Wellesley, 3rd Earl Cowley

Henry Arthur Mornington Wellesley, 3rd Earl Cowley (14 January 1866 – 15 January 1919), styled as Viscount Dangan between 1884 and 1895, was an English aristocrat.

Early life

Henry was born at Wilton Place, London, on 14 January 1866. He was the eldest son of William Wellesley, 2nd Earl Cowley (1834–1895), and the former Emily Gwendoline Peers-Williams (1839–1932). His only sibling, Lady Eva Wellesley, married, as his second wife, Randolph Wemyss, Laird of Wemyss Castle and Chief of Clan Wemyss.

Career He attended Eton College between 1880 and 1881.

On 17 December 1889, at St George's Church in Hanover Square, Westminster, he was married to Lady Violet Nevill, the daughter of William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny, and the former Caroline Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone (a daughter of Sir John Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone, 2nd Baronet). Before she divorced him on 2 February 1897 alleging "misconduct", they were the parents of one son:

Christian Arthur Wellesley, 4th Earl Cowley (1890–1962), an actor and army officer who married actress Mae Pickard in 1914. They divorced in 1933 and he remarried to Mrs Mary Himes (née Mary Elsie May) in 1933.

He married, secondly, Hon. Millicent Florence Eleanor (née Wilson) Cradock-Hartopp (1872–1952) on 14 December 1905 at Colombo in Sri Lanka. Millicent, the divorced wife of Sir Charles Cradock-Hartopp, 5th Baronet, was a daughter of Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Nunburnholme, and the former Florence Jane Helen Wellesley. In 1912, while still married to his second wife, Lord Cowley was a named as a correspondent in the divorce suite of Geoffrey Charles Buxton against his wife. Before she divorced him in 1913, citing his "desertion and misconduct with Mrs. G.C. Buxton", they were the parents of:

Hon. Henry Gerald Valerian Francis Wellesley (1907–1981), who married Doris Caroline Sabia Kennedy, daughter of Edward Robert Kennedy, in 1929. They divorced in 1953 and he married Nancy Joan Hilliam, daughter of Bentley Collingwood Hilliam, in 1954. His second marriage was annulled in 1955 and he married Marina Isabel Sherlock Eustace, daughter of Frank Rowland Eustace, in 1957. They divorced in 1969 and he married, fourthly, Valerie Rose Pitman, daughter of Christian Ernest Pitman, in 1969. Clare, who was by then divorced from her husband Geoffrey Buxton of Dunston Hall, was a daughter of Sir Francis Stapleton, 8th Baronet, and Mary Catherine Gladstone. They were the parents of: She married Col. Daniel Dixon, 2nd Baron Glentoran, son of Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran, and Hon. Emily Bingham (a daughter of John Bingham, 5th Baron Clanmorris). They divorced in 1942 and she married Lt.-Col. Norman David Melville Johnstone, son of Major Charles Melville Johnstone, in 1942. They divorced in 1950 and she married, thirdly, to Norman Hyman Wachman, son of Woolf Wachman, in 1950. He was buried at St James' Church Draycot Cerne, near Chippenham. His widow, the Dowager Countess of Cowley, died in a fire on 8 May 1949.