Jane Wellesley

Poet, traveller, heiress and rebel, Dorothy Wellesley – the future wife of the Duke of Wellington – was a woman ahead of her time. Her granddaughter, Jane Wellesley, discusses her remarkable ancestor, who became a lover of Vita Sackville-West, mingled in the Bloomsbury set and was close to Y.B. Yeats in his final years. 

But Wellesley argues in Blue Eyes and a Wild Spirit that her extraordinary grandmother has been overlooked. Yeats hailed her as one of the most talented poets of her generation. She was his intimate friend in his final years and his muse. Yet despite being a writer, editor and champion of poetry throughout her life, she ranks highly among the most overlooked women poets of the 20th century.

Wellesley’s intimate biography draws on unpublished material, including private Wellesley family papers and hitherto-unknown source material, to create a riveting story of love, secret friendships and betrayal. She sets her grandmother back in her rightful place in literary – and social – history. 

Jane Wellesley is a writer and producer. She worked at the BBC and later was a researcher at Granada TV. She became an independent producer, firstly running Antelope Films, then jointly running and owning Warner Sisters Film and TV until 2002. Her first book, Wellington: a Journey Through My Family, was published in 2008 and re-issued in 2015 for the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo.