in the County of Kilkenny. The two brothers were lawyers by profession,
and in the year 1531, were invested with the office of Clerk of the
Crown in Chancery, which they were to hold jointly during their lives.
Six years afterwards, we find the elder brother Master of the Rolls in
Ireland, and the other Solicitor-General. In 1549, Walter was made
Surveyor-General of Ireland. It was from this Walter that the immediate
ancestors of the Duke of Wellington were, by the mother's side,
descended.

His eldest son, Henry, acquired some distinction as a soldier in the
reign of Elizabeth. He was also a member of the Irish Parliament for the
borough of Thomastown. He was, moreover, a Privy Councillor, and was
knighted.

Sir Henry Sydney, who was, perhaps, the wisest and most able of all the
Lords Deputy whom Elizabeth sent over to Ireland, appears to have
entertained a very high opinion of Sir Henry Colley's abilities; for, in
recommending him to his successor in the Government, he describes him as
"valiant, fortunate, and a good servant;" and speaks of him as his
"sound and fast friend." But he more especially praises the "order," in
which he kept his county.

Thus early did a member of this family earn praise for good service to
the State; and if we compare the measure of that praise with what we
know of the temper of the times, we might almost suppose that some
portion of the spirit of the "sound and fast friend," the "valiant,
fortunate, and good servant," had been inherited by his illustrious
descendant.

The immediate descendants of Sir Henry Colley were more or less