PAGET, Henry William George, Lord Paget, afterwards earl of Uxbridge (1821-1880), of Beaudesert Hall, Staffordshire; Plas Newydd, near Bangor, Anglesey

Scion of the Whig Paget family, marquesses of Anglesey, Paget was a silent supporter of Palmerston during his brief, unremarkable parliamentary career. His formidable grandfather, Henry William Paget (1768-1854), 1st marquess of Anglesey, had fought with distinction alongside Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars and been lord lieutenant of Ireland 1828-9, 1830-3. After he divorced his first wife and remarried in 1809 Anglesey was on poor terms with his heir Henry Paget, earl of Uxbridge (1797-1869), Paget’s father, who was MP for Anglesey 1820-32, and elevated to the Lords as Baron Paget in 1833.1HP Commons, 1820-1832, vi. 609-12; Marq. of Anglesey, One-leg: the life and letters of Henry William Paget, first marquess of Anglesey, K.G., 1768-1854 (1963), 254, 379. In the late 1830s the Paget family supplied a number of courtiers for Lord Melbourne’s attempt to surround the new Queen, Victoria, with Whigs, and both Uxbridge and his half-brother Lord Alfred Paget, MP for Lichfield, 1837-65, held royal household appointments.

In 1853 the Liberal chief whip William Hayter wrote that ‘Ld Paget was most anxious to come into Parliament – and strongly urged me at the general election to find him a seat’.2William Hayter to Lord Hatherton, 7 Dec. 1853, Staffordshire Record Office, D260/M/F/5/27/26. His opportunity came when a vacancy arose for South Staffordshire that year. Although the constituency had long been shared between the parties, local Liberals were confident of seizing the second seat. Paget was chosen unanimously at a meeting of local ironmasters as the Liberal candidate.3Ibid. With his grandfather reluctant to forward any money for the election, Paget delayed accepting the invitation to stand until a subscription was raised to return him free of any personal expense.4Hatherton Journal, 27 Nov. 1853, 8, 13, 15 Dec. 1853, Staffs. RO, D260/M/F/5/26/63. The Whig grandee Lord Hatherton had a low opinion of Paget, thinking him one of a number of ‘very bad candidates’ considered by local Liberals, but during the campaign a local agent reported that ‘Lord Paget has much improved in speaking & is decidedly popular’.5Hatherton Journal, 27 Nov. 1853, Staffs. RO, D260/M/F/5/26/63; W.B. Collis to Lord Hatherton, 11 Jan. 1854, Staffs. RO, D260/M/F/5/14. In February 1854 Paget won a decisive victory over his Conservative opponent.

After his grandfather’s death and father’s accession to the marquessate in April 1854, Paget was known by the courtesy title of the earl of Uxbridge. Uxbridge is not known to have spoken in debate or served on any committees during his time in the Commons. In his first session he supported the Aberdeen coalition’s financial policy to cope with the cost of the Crimean war and also divided in favour of the ballot. He was among the majority that voted Aberdeen’s government out of office, 29 Jan. 1855, and opposed Disraeli’s censure of Palmerson’s handling of the war, 25 May 1855. Never a very diligent MP, Uxbridge voted in just 12 (6%) out of 198 divisions in the 1856 session.6J.P. Gassiot, Third letter to J.A. Roebuck (1857), 18. After voting against Cobden’s Canton motion, 3 Mar. 1857, Uxbridge retired at the ensuing general election. Although he was an inactive MP, his parliamentary career is important in understanding a significant long-term shift in Staffordshire politics. He had been returned in 1854 at the behest of the Staffordshire ironmasters, but thereafter they increasingly sought a share of the representation for themselves. In part this was an inevitable development, but it was also a consequence of the inability or unwillingness of the scions of the local Whig nobility, such as Uxbridge and his colleague Edward Richard Littleton, Hatherton’s heir, to perform the duties that their fathers and forefathers had fulfilled with such distinction.7Another example would be the unwillingness of the duke of Sutherland’s heir, the marquess of Stafford to stand for North Staffordshire.

Uxbridge succeeded his father as 3rd marquess of Anglesey in 1869, inheriting 17,441 acres in Staffordshire and 9,620 in Anglesey, with annual rentals of £91,304 and £9,784 respectively.8J. Bateman, The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. D. Spring (1971), 10. By this time Anglesey was ‘well known on the turf’.9The Times, 2 Feb. 1880. Although he had ‘a long run of ill luck’, after announcing he was selling off ‘his racing stud he had a run of surprising success’.10Morning Post, 2 Feb. 1880. On his death in 1880, the childless marquess was succeeded by his half-brother Henry Paget (1835-98), 4th marquess of Anglesey.