People

Emily Gwendoline Wellesley 1839 – 1932

Dowager Countess Cowley

Emily Gwendoline Peers Williams (born July 1839) was the daughter of Lt.-Col. Thomas Peers Williams and Emily Bacon. She married William Henry Wellesley, 2nd Earl Cowley, (born 25 August 1834) at Stuttgart, Baden-Wuttemburg, Germany, at London on 8 August 1863.

Her married name became Wellesley. As a result of her marriage, was styled as Countess Cowley on 15 July 1884.

She had two children: Lady Eva Cecilia Margaret Wellesley d. 4 March 1948
Henry Arthur Mornington Wellesley, 3rd Earl Cowley, born 14 Jan 1866, died 15 Jan 1919.

Dowager Countess Cowley

We regret to announce the death of the Dowager Countess Cowley, which occurred on Wednesday, 9 November at the advance age of 92 at her residence, Bodwen, Woodside, Wootton, where she had resided for the passed 30 years. Lady Cowley was Emily Gwendoline, daughter of the late Colonel T. Peers Williams M.P. of Craig-y-don. She married in 1863, William Henry Wellesley, Viscount Dangan who succeeded his father as 2nd Earl Cowley in July 1884 and died in 1885. She was the grandmother of the fourth and present Earl. Her husband was a Lieutenant- Colonel in the Coldstream Guards and came from a family notable for military and diplomatic service. The peerage was created in 1828 when a barony was conferred on the Hon. Sir Henry Wellesley, fifth son of the Earl of Mornington and brother of the Marquess Wellesley and of the first Duke of Wellington. His son Henry Richard Charles Wellesley, British Ambassador in Paris, succeeded him.

Lady Cowley was of a very retiring nature, and took no active part in local affairs, though she was a familiar figure in East Wight. She was a keen horsewomen and horticulturist in her young days.

The remains are contained in an unpolished coffin. With brass breastplate, engraved “Emily Gwendolen Cowley” died November 9th 1932 aged 92 years” and will be cremated at Woking on Monday. The ashes will be taken to Draycot-Cerne, Wiltshire for burial on Tuesday.

Source: Isle of Wight County Press, November 1932

Links:
http://thepeerage.com/p1123.htm