Anne Wellesley, Countess Of Mornington

Anne Wellesley, Countess of Mornington (née Hill-Trevor; 23 June 1742 – 10 September 1831) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat known for her familial connections and her marriage to Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. She was the mother of Arthur Wellesley, who became the 1st Duke of Wellington and notable for his victory at the Battle of Waterloo.

Born in 1742, Anne was the eldest daughter of Arthur Hill and his wife, Anne Stafford. Her father was a banker and politician who served as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons before changing his surname to Hill-Trevor in 1759. In February 1766, he was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as the 1st Viscount Dungannon, which granted him an hereditary seat in the Irish House of Lords. Consequently, Anne was briefly known as Anne Hill-Trevor during 1759, shortly before her marriage.

Anne’s mother was recognized for her eccentricity and financial extravagance, which contributed to the family's financial difficulties. The family was also connected to the Ladies of Llangollen, Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, who were friends of her mother.

In 1759, Anne married Garret Wesley, then the 2nd Baron Mornington, who was created the 1st Earl of Mornington in 1760. The marriage was described as harmonious. The couple had nine children, of whom seven survived into adulthood. Their children included Richard Wellesley, later 1st Marquess Wellesley and 2nd Earl of Mornington; William Wellesley-Pole, later 3rd Earl of Mornington and Baron Maryborough; Lady Anne Wellesley; Arthur Wellesley, who became the 1st Duke of Wellington; Gerald Valerian Wellesley, a clergyman; Lady Mary Elizabeth Wellesley; Henry Wellesley, later 1st Baron Cowley; and others.

Following the death of Lord Mornington in May 1781, Anne was left to raise her family, including their eldest son who was then 21 years old. She initially disliked her son Arthur, expressing that he was "food for powder" and doubted his prospects, but he later achieved national prominence. In 1785, Anne moved to Brussels to economize and took Arthur with her, sending him to the Royal Academy of Equitation at Angers in France after returning to Britain in 1786.

Anne received a pension of £600 in 1813 from the British Parliament, distributed in recognition of her son Arthur's military successes in the Peninsular War. The titles held by her husband were in the Irish Peerage and thus did not automatically entitle him or their sons to sit in the Parliament of the United Kingdom following the Act of Union of 1801. However, four of her five sons who reached adulthood later obtained peerages within the United Kingdom, enabling them to sit in the UK House of Lords. Her son Gerald Valerian became a bishop, thus holding a status comparable to that of a peer.