Lord Alfred Paget

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox officeholder Lord Alfred Henry Paget Template:Postnominals (26 June 1816 – 24 August 1888<ref name="rayment">Template:Rayment-hc</ref>) was a British soldier, courtier and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1837 and 1865.

Early life

Paget was the sixth son of William Paget, the 1st Marquess of Anglesey and the former Hon. Charlotte Cadogan. Among his siblings were Lady Emily Paget (wife of John Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney), Lord Clarence Paget, Lady Mary Paget (wife of John Montagu, 7th Earl of Sandwich), Lord George Paget, and Lady Adelaide Paget (wife of Frederick William Cadogan).<ref name="MarquessAnglesey"/>

From his father's first marriage to Lady Caroline Villiers (a daughter of George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey and later, Duchess of Argyll), he had several older half-siblings, including Lady Caroline Paget (wife of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond), Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey, Lady Jane Paget (wife of Francis Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham), Lady Georgina Paget (wife of Edward Crofton, 2nd Baron Crofton), Lady Augusta Paget (wife of Arthur Chichester, 1st Baron Templemore), Lord William Paget, Lady Agnes Paget (wife of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford).<ref name="MarquessAnglesey">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From his mother's first marriage to Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley, he had four half-siblings, including Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley, William Henry George Wellesley, Hon. Charlotte Wellesley (wife of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury), and Gerald Valerian Wellesley.<ref name="DukeArgyll">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

File:Lord Alfred Paget (Francis Grant).jpeg

Portrait by Francis Grant, 1859

He became a lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards. In 1837 he was elected Member of Parliament for Lichfield and held the seat until 1865,<ref name="rayment" /> when he was defeated by the Conservative Richard Dyott.<ref name="craig1832-1885">Template:Cite book</ref>

Paget was Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal to the Queen from July 1846 to March 1852, from December 1852 to March 1858, and from June 1859. The office ceased to be a political one from 1866.<ref>Chris Cook and Brendan Keith, British Historical Facts 1830-1900, Macmillan 1975, p. 27</ref>

He was the Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, 1846–1873, and Vice-Commodore, 1845-1846 and 1874–1888.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="1882Newport">Template:Cite news</ref>

On 1 August 1874, he resigned the Chief Equerryship only.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He became a Lieutenant-Colonel (unattached) in 1854.<ref name="Mosley1999"/>

Paget was a director of the North Staffordshire Railway Company between January 1854 and February 1875.<ref name="Mosley1999"/>

Personal life

In 1847, Paget was married to Cecilia Wyndham (1829–1914), second daughter and co-heiress of George Thomas Wyndham, of Cromer Hall, Norfolk. Their children were:<ref name="Mosley1999">Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999. p. Vol. 1, page 76.</ref>

• Victoria Alexandrina Paget (1848–1859)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Evelyn Cecilia Paget (1849–1904)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Sir Arthur Henry Fitzroy Paget (1851–1928), who married American heiress Mary Fiske “Minnie” Stevens In 1878.<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Alfred Wyndham Paget (1852–1918)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• George Thomas Cavendish Paget (1853–1939), raised Paget's Horse for service in the Boer War.<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Gerald Cecil Stewart Paget (1854–1913), grandfather of Percy Bernard, 5th Earl of Bandon.<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Violet Mary Paget (1856–1908)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Sydney Augustus Paget (1857–1916)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Amy Olivia Paget (1858–1948)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Alberta Victoria Paget (1859–1945)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Almeric Hugh Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough (1861–1949),<ref name="QObit1949">Template:Cite news</ref> who married Pauline Payne Whitney in 1895.<ref name="1895Engagement">Template:Cite news</ref> After her death in 1916, he married Edith Starr Miller in 1921.<ref name="1921Wedding">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="1932Separation">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Alice Maud Paget (1862–1925)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Alexandra Harriet Paget (1863–1944), who married Edward Colebrooke, 1st Baron Colebrooke.<ref name="Mosley1999"/>
• Guinevere Eva Paget (1869–1894)<ref name="Mosley1999"/>

He lived at 42 Grosvenor Place, London, and at Melford Hall, Sudbury, Suffolk. He died in 1888 unexpectedly, on his yacht off Inverness.<ref name="Obituary">Template:Cite news</ref>

In popular culture

In the television series Victoria, Lord Alfred is played by Jordan Waller. In the second series, he was depicted having a same-sex romantic relationship with Sir Robert Peel's secretary, Edward Drummond. There is no historical evidence that this took place. In the same series, Lord Alfred marries Lady Wilhelmina Coke (the niece of the Duchess of Buccleuch); but in real life, Lord Alfred married Cecilia Wyndham.<ref>Cecilia Wyndham. Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/genealogy/records/cecilia-wyndham-24-12v9j2r?geo_a=r&geo_s=uk&geo_t=uk&geo_v=2.0.0&o_iid=41012&o_lid=41012&o_sch=Web+Property</ref>

External links

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