Wellesley, Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquis 1760-1842
Irish administrator

Born in County Meath, the brother of the 1st Duke of Wellington, he was returned to Westminster in 1784. He supported William Pitt's foreign policy and William Wilberforce's efforts to abolish the slave trade, and in 1786 became a Lord of the Treasury. In 1797 he was raised to the English peerage as Baron Wellesley and made Governor-General of India. Under his administration (1797-1805) British rule became supreme in India. The influence of France was extinguished with the disarming of its forces in Hyderabad, the power of the princes much reduced by the crushing in 1799 of Tippoo Sahib (at Seringapatam by General George Harris), and in 1803 of the Marathas. The revenue of the East India Company was more than doubled. In 1805 Wellesley returned to England and in 1809 went as ambassador to Madrid. On his return he was made Foreign Minister (1809-12), and later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1821, 1833).