Biography

Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley, was a prominent British diplomat. He began his career in the army before moving on to diplomacy, where he first served as Secretary to the Stockholm legation in 1792. From there, he served in the Irish Parliament and then in Lille as secretary to Lord Malmesbury before heading to India with his brother, Arthur. In India, Wellesley took a number of positions, acting as a commissioner for the settlement of the fourth Anglo-Mysore War, secretary to the viceroy, and lieutenant-governor of newly acquired territory in Awadh. In 1802, he returned to England, and in 1807 was elected to Parliament for Eye, and briefly served as Secretary of the Treasury. Unhappy as Secretary of the Treasury, he returned to diplomatic service and worked in Spain as a secretary to the embassy. In 1812 he was knighted, and in 1823 he was made Ambassador to Austria. Wellesley was titled Baron Cowley in 1828. He resigned his post in Vienna in 1831 and was made ambassador at Paris in 1835.