Wellesley, Ontario that much of the land had been "Queen's Rush, crown land, where fifty acre lots were given away to actual settlers". The Population of the entire township in 1841, was only 254. The area now the village of Wellesley on the Nith River was first settled in 1847, by John Smith and was originally called "Schmidtsville". The post office opened in 1851 and the village was renamed "Wellesley" after Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, the eldest brother of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The community quickly grew to be the largest economic centre in rural Waterloo County, with a
Richard Wellesley, 6th Earl Cowley Richard Wellesley, 6th Earl Cowley Richard Francis Wellesley, 6th Earl Cowley (12 June 1946–13 December 1975), known as Viscount Dangan from 1962 to 1968, was a British Conservative politician. Cowley was the only son of Denis Arthur Wellesley, 5th Earl Cowley, and his first wife Elizabeth Anne (née Papillon), and was educated at Eton. He succeeded in the earldom on his father's early death in 1968 and took his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords. He served briefly as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) under Edward Heath from January to March 1974.