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
Douglas Wellesley Morrell Douglas Wellesley Morrell Douglas Wellesley Morrell , (6 February 1917 – 6 February 1996) was an English electrical engineer and deputy managing director of Racal. Douglas Morrell was born in Plymouth on 6 February 1917, but was adopted and baptised nearly a year later, on 9 January 1918, as Douglas Wellesley Morrell at Emmanuel, Compton Gifford, Plymouth, Devon. His father, Arthur Wellesley Morrell, was a paymaster for the Royal Navy at the Plymouth Dockyard. Douglas Morrell was educated at Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire, and later at Faraday House in London, where he earned a bachelor of science (engineering) with honours,