William Wellesley, 2nd Earl Cowley

Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Wellesley, 2nd Earl Cowley (25 August 1834 - 28 February 1895) was an English aristocrat and soldier.

Early life Wellesley was born on 25 August 1834 at Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg. He was the eldest son of the former Hon. Olivia Cecilia FitzGerald (d. 1885) and Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley, who served as the British Ambassador to France between 1852 and 1867.

His younger siblings included Lady Feodorowna Cecilia (wife of the 1st Viscount Bertie), Lady Sophia Georgiana Robertina (wife of the 5th Earl of Hardwicke), Hon. Cecil Charles Foley (who served in the Royal Navy and died unmarried), and Col. Hon. Frederick Arthur (who married three times, including lastly to Evelyn, Duchess of Wellington, the widow of Henry Wellesley, 3rd Duke of Wellington and sister to William's wife Emily).

Upon the death of his father on 15 July 1884, he succeeded as 3rd Baron Cowley of Wellesley, 2nd Viscount Dangan, and 2nd Earl Cowley. Together, they were the parents of: Lady Eva Cecilia Margaret Wellesley (d. 1948), who married, as his second wife, Randolph Gordon Erskine-Wemyss, eldest son of James Hay Erskine Wemyss MP, in 1898. and was succeeded by his son, Henry.