The daughter of Colonel Thomas Paterson and Ann Porterfield; she married Captain Thomas Bligh of the Coldstream Guards, from whom she eloped with William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, fourth Earl of Mornington, whom she married in 1828.

CORRESPONDENCE OF Helena Bligh, countess of Mornington [née Paterson]:

Duke of Wellesley to Helena Bligh, 17 May [1826?] in The Autobiography of William Jerdan. 4 vols (London: Arthur Hall, Vertue & Co., 1852-53)