He was the eldest son of Henry Wellesley, 3rd Earl Cowley and his first wife, Lady Violet Nevill.

[8] When his "father refused to make him any allowance he found himself unable to keep up with the other officers on his army pay and resigned.

[1] Wellesley then spent a few weeks as a cab driver before becoming a "paint room laborer with the Quinlan Opera Company of London.

[9] At the time of his wedding, it was reported that "Lord Dangan was cut adrift by his father some years ago, but is still, or at least was up to the time he married an American show girl, in the good graces of his aunt and uncle, the very wealthy Lord and Lady Hythe.

Brewster Adams, a Baptist minister, at the home of Harry Atkinson, Lord Cowley's attorney.

[17] His new wife, whom he met while "she was working as a hat check girl at a road house near Reno" was divorced from Joseph T. Himes of San Francisco three weeks before their wedding.