Garret Wellesley 7th Earl Cowley

1934 - 2016

Garret Wellesley, The Earl Cowley



June 17, 2016

Garret Wellesley, 7th Earl Cowley, died on Friday, 17 June 2016, after a short illness. He was 81. A memorial Requiem Mass was held 07 July 2016 at the Church of Our Most Holy Redemer More, Cheyne Row, London, England.

Born 30 July 1934, Reno, Nevada, and raised on his Father's estate, Wellesley Ranch, Washoe Valley, Garret attended elementary school at the old one room Franktown School. He graduated from Carson City High School in 1951. Upon achieving an undergraduate degree from USC, Los Angeles, in 1957, he served 3 years in the US Army. He received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1962, after which he spent his career in finance and banking.

Garret's father, Christian Arthur (Bill) Wellesley, 4th Earl Cowley from England sold Draycot House & the Draycot Estate in 1920, after the death of his Father, Henry Wellesley, 3th Earl Cowley. This estate encompassed 4,320 acres and covered all of Sutton Benger, Draycot Cerne, most of Seagry, and parts of Christian Malford, Kellaways and Kington Langley.

Bill Wellesley was a member of an old Irish family, of which the Duke of Wellington, conqueror of Napoleon, is the most prominent antecedent; his great grandfather, was the "Iron Duke's' youngest brother, a member of the Irish parliament for many years, who entered the British diplomatic service, and was British ambassador to Germany and France. For these services to his country Henry Wellesley was promoted to the peerage and given the title of Baron Cowley. His son Henry Richard was also ambassador to France, (1852 and 1867), and was given the title of Earl on his retirement, becoming the first Earl Cowley in the British House of Lords.

During his theatre career (1910-1933), Bill traveled extensively between London, New York and other major cities as a stage actor, theatrical producer and director, finally traveling to Reno, Nevada, to divorce his first wife, Actress Mae Pickard, where he met and married his second wife, Mary Elsie May, from Reno in 1933. Mary was the granddaughter of George De Remer, one of the first settlers in the Truckee Meadows prior to the establishment of Reno in 1868.

In 1933, the couple purchased the old McEwen Ranch in Washoe Valley, which was the site of the valley's first pioneer settler, Jacob Rose, who built his cabin there in 1852. Mt. Rose was named after Jacob. The Wellesley's acquired additional ranch property eventually owning the southern end of Washoe Valley on both sides of highway 395.

The Wellesley's sold their ranch to the late Frank List, Father of former Governor Robert List, in 1951, at which time they purchased a summer estate at Lake Tahoe's Crystal Bay, which was later leased to Singer and Actor Frank Sinatra during his ownership of Cal-Neva Lodge. In 1970 the lake property was sold to billionaire Howard Hughes. The Wellesley's also acquired a home in Bel Air, California, which they sold to Irish actress and singer Maureen O'Hara, and a home in the Biltmore Estates in Phoenix, Arizona.

Garret Wellesley unexpectedly succeeded to the title of Earl in 1975, after his nephew, Richard Wellesley, 6th Earl Cowley, died at age 29. He continued his financial career as group vice-president with Bank of America in London, between 1978 and 1985. He also took a seat in England's House of Lords, which was abolished in 1999 when the Blair Government removed the right of hereditary peers to hold a seat in Lords. In 1990, Garret moved to the Isle of Man, where he served as a Senior Investment Partner with Thomas R. Miller & Son, retiring in 2002.

Garret married 4 times. Firstly (1960, div. 1966) to Elizabeth Suzanne Lennon (d. 2011). Secondly (1968, div 1981) to Isabelle O'Bready. Thirdly (1981) to Paige Deming Iratcalal (d. 2010), of Reno, Nevada, raising several of her daughters. Then in 2012 he married Mrs. Carola Marion Stormonth Darling, widow of Captain Robin Andrew Stormonth Darling, of Perthshire, Scotland, daughter of Sir Robert Erskine-Hill, 2nd Baronet.

Garret is succeeded in title by his son, Viscount Dangan, Graham Wellesley, now 8th Earl Cowley, who is the co-founder and CEO of the peer-to-peer lending firm Wellesley & Company, currently living in Wildford, Herts, England. Additionally, surviving is Graham's wife, Claire and their three children, Henry, Bertie and Natasha; Carola, Countess Cowley, his brother, the Hon. Brian Tim Wellesley and spouse Katherine, Reno, Nevada, and his only daughter, Lady Tara Wellesley and her son Fionn, London, England.