of Mornington" The title Earl of Mornington has been one of the greatest British aristocratic titles for centuries. Originally a British peerage title it is now a courtesy title. The current holder of the earldom is Arthur Darcy Wellesley (born 2010), the son of Arthur Gerald Wellesley, Marquess of Douro, and his wife Jemma, née Kidd, who is the sister of Jodie Kidd. The connection to Mornington of the Wellesley, Wesley, Weslie, or, Weisle family name goes back to at least the sixteenth century, as Lewis says on the suppression of Colp Abbey a place called 'Weisle's Farm' in Mornington was paying tithes to the Abbey. Gerald Weslie, late of Dangan, "Irish Papist", who died in 1603, is mentioned in an inquisition of 1624 as having been in possession of "the manor of Marinerstown or Mornanton counting two messages and 120A and of a capital fishery commonly called the lord's fishery". Richard Colley (later Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington) inherited Dangan and Mornington in 1728 from his cousin Garret Wesley. His son was the 1st Earl of Mornington, the father of Field-Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington. Use of the name Mornington in other contexts The many Mornington places in Australia and across the world were named in honour of the second Earl, a brother of the Duke of Wellington. This has led to its use for the Mornington Crescent game on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue taken from the Camden street Mornington Crescent, London also named for the second Earl. The famous jockey Herbert Mornington, or Morny, Cannon was born the same day in 1873 that his father Tom Cannon won the Somersetshire Stakes at Bath on a colt named Mornington and named after that event. The name has also been used in the title of the play "Of Mornington" by Billy Roche, the play's revered snooker cue being handcrafted at the fictitious 'Beecher's of Mornington'. Mornington is a surname still in use, although rare. The motto of the Mornington family is Virtutis Fortuna Comes. References External links Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837 Towns and villages in County Meath