" Despite the change in spelling I was assured thatthe pronunciation of the name remained the same i.e. wez-lee."But if that were true, then it would seem to defeat the whole object of the exercise which was to distintinguish that branch or the family from the branch which produced the preacher.i.e While our name is now spelled Wellesley we'd still like you to pronounce it "Wesley" whilebearing in mind at all times that we have no connection to any other Wesleys. We want youto put all other Wesleys out of your mind. But rather than pronouncing it differently we want you to spell it differently. So wheneveryou spell it Wellesley you'll remeber that whileit is actually pronounced Wesley we have nothingwhatsoever to do with that other lot. Now is that clear. In fact this seems to be confusing two things. There are a whole list of names in English Featherstonehaugh(Fanshaw), Cholmondley (Chumley), Beauchamp (Beecham),Mainwairing (Mannering) plus assorted Cecils pronouncedCicil, Powells pronounced Pole, Morrells pronoubcedMurill, among others where the difference between thespelling and pronounciation is supposedly intendedto deliberately catch out and embarrass upstarts and social climbers who'll onkly have read about such peoplein newspapapers rather than having been introduced to them or heard them spoken of.Edensor and Ensor is interesting, as in that case"Ensor" is what you might expect the local peasantry to use, given that most of them probably couldn'tread in the first place. However it's doubtful if that applies in this case asto be "in on the secret" would also to be in on the social climbing reason for its adoption. At one pointWellington as Prime Minister was highly unpopular.The "Iron Duke" was so called because of the shuttersfitted on Apsley House on account of the mob. And so maybe this rather illogical suggestion dates from that time.michael adams...
Michael Adams ● 2246d