PAGET, William (c.1572-1628)

A Staffordshire family in origin, the Pagets first achieved prominence through William Paget^† (later 1st Lord Paget), son of a London serjeant-at-mace, who rose to become secretary of state under Henry VIII, and then comptroller of the household in the early years of Edward VI’s reign. A close ally of Protector Somerset (Edward Seymour^†, duke of Somerset), he was created Lord Paget of Beaudesert in 1549, but was disgraced when John Dudley^†, duke of Northumberland, came to power later that year. Restored to favour by Mary I, who appointed him lord privy seal, he retired from court upon the accession of Elizabeth I, and died a staunch Catholic.25 Collins, v. 174-5, 179-83.

Early life and Jacobean restitution, c.1572-1604

In due course the barony passed to William’s younger son, Thomas (Paget^†), 4th Lord Paget, who, along with his younger brother Charles, fled abroad in 1583 after being implicated in Throckmorton’s Plot. Along with Charles, Thomas was attainted by Parliament in 1587, whereupon both his title and lands became forfeit.26 Ibid. 186-7; CSP Dom. 1581-90, pp. 136-8, 187, 400; SR, iv. 766-7. His only son William, the subject of this biography, became a royal ward, and was placed in the care of the queen’s kinsman Sir George Carey^† (later 2nd Lord Hunsdon). The disgraced baron died around 1590, and Charles Paget remained on the Continent, still conspiring against the queen.27 APC, 1586-7, p. 352; CSP Dom. 1591-4, pp. 490, 548-9. However, young ‘Mr Paget’ conformed to the Anglican Church, and distanced himself from his renegade uncle. A volunteer in the 1596 Cadiz expedition, he was granted a lease the next year of most of his ancestral lands, comprising 26 manors in Staffordshire, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex and Derbyshire, though his father’s attainder was not reversed.28 CPR, 1596-7 ed. S.R. Neal and C. Leighton (L. and I. Soc. cccxxii), 40-1. At this juncture he enjoyed the favour of the powerful secretary of state, Sir Robert Cecil^* (later 1st earl of Salisbury), in whose 1598 embassy to Paris he participated. However, by 1601 Paget had reportedly entered the circle of Cecil’s rival, Robert Devereux^†, 2nd earl of Essex, though he did not participate in the latter’s abortive rebellion that year.29 CSP Dom. 1595-7, p. 552; 1598-1601, p. 187; HMC Hatfield, xi. 34. His marriage in 1602 to Lettice Knollys was politically advantageous, for it allied him to the comptroller of the household, Sir William Knollys^* (later earl of Banbury). Paget was also more distantly connected to another prominent courtier, Charles Howard^*, 1st earl of Nottingham and lord admiral, whose daughter Elizabeth had married Sir Robert Southwell, the stepson of Paget’s mother.30 Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure, i. 166; HP Commons, 1558-1603, iii. 422.

While Elizabeth I lived, there was little prospect of Paget being fully rehabilitated, but his opportunity came with the accession of James I in 1603. By November that year, he and Thomas Howard^*, later 21st (or 14th) earl of Arundel (who had also been disabled by the attainder of his father) were reportedly restored by the king, despite being ‘known favourers if not professors of the Romish religion’.31 HMC Hatfield, xv. 283. Precisely what action James took is unclear, but it opened the way for a bill in the 1604 parliamentary session designed to restore Paget in blood and allow him to recover his family’s peerage. The bill progressed smoothly through both Houses, the only recorded objection coming from Richard Fiennes^*, 7th or 1st Lord Saye and Sele, who had himself only recently recovered his title. Saye wrote to Cecil on 18 Apr., the day that the bill completed its passage, complaining that despite obtaining his barony he had been denied the precedence enjoyed by his ancestors, whereas Paget, with Cecil’s support, was now being restored not only to his father’s title but also to his place of precedence. However, Saye’s objection had no effect, and Paget’s bill received the Royal Assent at the end of the session, the effective date from which his tenure of the barony may be dated. Most peers evidently felt that Paget should not be blamed for his father’s actions, whereas a companion bill to restore his uncle Charles Paget, the erstwhile traitor, was emphatically rejected. Over the following year, all legal bars now removed, Paget began to take his place in local government.32 LJ, ii. 266a, 267b, 270a, 271a, 281b; CJ, i. 165b, 169b, 170b, 175b; PA, HL/PO/PB/1/1603/1J1n40; Hatfield House, CP 104/146; HMC 3rd Rep. 11.

Parliamentary apprenticeship, 1605-10

Considering how long he had waited to take his seat in the Lords, Paget showed remarkably little interest in Parliament when it met again in 1605. Although present at two of the three November sittings held before the session was suspended on account of the Gunpowder Plot’s discovery, he attended just six more sittings after the winter recess, and stayed away completely from 6 Feb. 1606. Paget evidently obtained formal leave of absence, though, since he handed his proxy to the lord chamberlain, Thomas Howard^*, 1st earl of Suffolk.33 LJ, ii. 355a. Curiously, his two appointments during this session, both of which related to the perceived Catholic threat, were made on days when he was not present. The first, on 3 Feb., was to attend a conference with the Commons to discuss the new measures needed in the light of the Plot, while the second, on 29 Apr., was to a committee to consider two bills against recusancy. Given that Paget had by this point been absent for nearly three months, this latter appointment was presumably an oversight or a clerical error.34 Ibid. 367b, 419b.

Paget travelled to London from his Staffordshire seat of Beaudesert twice that summer, on the second occasion visiting the scholar Sir Thomas Bodley^‡, and Henry Howard^*, earl of Northampton, Suffolk’s uncle, who had known Charles Paget at university. In anticipation of the next parliamentary session, Paget returned to London again in October. He had for some time been renting a house in Milford Lane, close to the Temple, but he now relinquished that lease, and found a new dwelling, apparently in the same area, which he proceeded to repair and furnish in early November.35 Staffs. RO, D(W)1734/3/4/225; HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF NORTHAMPTON.

Paget seems to have taken a greater part in the 1606-7 session than he had previously. In the initial pre-Christmas phase, he missed only five sittings, while after the long recess he was present for more than half the proceedings, thereby achieving 60 per cent attendance overall. His only extended absences occurred between late April and early May 1607, and from mid June to the end of the session. It was presumably during one of these periods that he awarded his proxy to Northampton.36 LJ, ii. 449b. Paget attracted 12 nominations during this session. Named in November 1606 to attend a conference on the proposed Anglo-Scottish Union, he was also appointed in June 1607 to the legislative committee concerning the repeal of English laws hostile to Scotland.37 Ibid. 453a, 520b. Of his remaining bill committee nominations, three related to the London merchant community, while a fourth dealt with the problem of London’s ever-growing suburbs. Paget was also required to help scrutinize bills to settle the estates of William Stanley^*, 6th earl of Derby, and to finalize a major property exchange between the king and the earl of Salisbury.38 Ibid. 460b, 464b, 479a, 480a, 511a.

Paget and his wife apparently made good use of their time in the capital while Parliament was sitting. Their 1606-7 household accounts mention several visits to court, and also to the Spring Garden at Whitehall, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Temple garden, and Kensington (conceivably to meet the courtier and antiquarian Sir Walter Cope^‡). Prominent members of their social circle included the earl of Arundel, Gray Brydges^*, 5th Lord Chandos, and the dowager Lady Windsor (widow of Henry Windsor^*, 5th Lord Windsor), a distant relative. They seem to have been particularly friendly with one of their near neighbours, Sir Thomas Gorges^‡, who had a house just east of the Temple. More controversially, they also called on the countess of Northumberland, whose husband, Henry Percy^*, 3rd earl of Northumberland, was imprisoned in the Tower for suspected complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. Naturally there were a number of shopping expeditions, and the accounts record the purchase of high-quality cloth, Spanish leather shoes, upholstered furniture, Venetian glasses, and tobacco pipes. In addition Paget had his armour cleaned, probably because there were specialist craftsmen in London rather than because he anticipated jousting at court.39 Staffs. RO, D(W)1734/3/4/225.

Like many peers, Paget was instructed in 1608 to settle outstanding debts to the crown, following Salisbury’s appointment as lord treasurer. However, he responded by arguing that the bulk of the £1,057 demanded was actually the responsibility of assorted relatives, while the remainder represented an Exchequer accounting error. In May 1609 he was granted a licence to travel abroad for three years, but he can have made little use of it, for he was certainly in London in the following February.40 SP14/37/48; SO3/4, unfol. (May 1609).

Paget attended just over 80 per cent of the fourth Jacobean parliamentary session, and was not absent for any extended period. He was nevertheless excused twice during late April 1610 on account of illness, as a result of which he missed five consecutive sittings.41 Procs. 1610 ed. E.R. Foster, i. 208; LJ, ii. 583a. During the session Paget attracted 21 committee nominations. Named to the preliminary conference on supply, the first step towards discussion of Salisbury’s Great Contract, he was also appointed to attend the king, to establish when the lord chancellor, Thomas Egerton^*, Lord Ellesmere (later 1st Viscount Brackley) might formally thank James for allowing Parliament to bargain with him over wardship and other feudal tenures.42 LJ, ii. 550b, 569a. Of his bill committee nominations, seven related to private property, the owners including three of his fellow peers, Edward Neville^*, 1st Lord Abergavenny, Henry de Vere^*, 18th earl of Oxford, and the earl of Salisbury.43 Ibid. 586b, 595b, 606b, 611a, 616a, 619a, 623b. In May Paget was again appointed to attend the king for the presentation of a petition from both Houses recommending tougher anti-Catholic measures following the assassination of Henri IV. A week later he was named to the committee for a bill requiring people who were naturalized or restored in blood to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance. He himself took the latter oath on 7 June. He was also nominated to a legislative committee concerned with administering this same oath to recusants, and appointed to help devise a bill to improve the king’s safety. In addition to this activity, on 4 June Paget witnessed the creation of Prince Henry as prince of Wales.44 Ibid. 603a, 606b, 608b, 645a, 651a; Rymer, vii. pt. 2, p. 169.

Paget missed only six sittings of the short second session of 1610, achieving an attendance record of just over 70 per cent. Of his four nominations, one was to a conference about the Great Contract, while the other three were to bill committees, the subject matter covering timber supplies, ordnance exports, and the need for Prince Henry to be able to grant valid leases while still a minor.45 LJ, ii. 669a, 670a, 671a, 677a.

Commercial ventures, 1610-20

In around 1610, Paget recovered possession of West Drayton manor, Middlesex, which had for some years been leased to the 2nd Lord Hunsdon’s widow. He thus acquired a comfortable seat near London, and during the next two years his career took a new direction, as he joined the East India Company, the Virginia Company, and the latter’s subsidiary enterprise, the Somers Islands Company. He seems never to have been more than an ordinary investor in the India trade, but from the outset he was on the Virginia Company’s board. He also helped to fund the initial settlement of the Somers Islands (modern Bermuda), in consequence of which one district of the new colony was designated the ‘Paget tribe’.46 VCH Mdx. iii. 192; Brown, 847; J. Smith, General Hist. of Virg., New Eng. and the Summer Isles (1624), 187; W.F. Craven, ‘Intro. to Hist. of Bermuda’, WMQ, 2nd ser. xvii. 339. In September 1613, upon reports of an impending duel between Robert Devereux^*, 3rd earl of Essex, and Henry Howard^‡, a son of the 1st earl of Suffolk, Paget was instructed to detain the two miscreants, but was unable to prevent them from crossing the Channel.47 CUL, Dd.iii.63, f. 37; Chamberlain Letters, i. 474-5.

In the Staffordshire election for the 1614 Parliament, Paget may have backed Sir Walter Chetwynd^‡, their respective fathers having been close associates.48 HP Commons, 1604-29, ii. 363. Paget himself attended all but four or five sittings of this brief session. Appointed to a conference about the bill to include Princess Elizabeth’s foreign-born heirs in the English royal line of succession, he was also named to bill committees concerning timber stocks and wasteful use of gold and silver.49 LJ, ii. 691a, 692b, 697b.

Paget remained an active member of the Virginia Company during the rest of this decade, being described in January 1620 by Sir Edwin Sandys^‡ as one of the ‘chief adventurers’ in the latest scheme for further plantations. Simultaneously, he involved himself in the short-lived Guinea Company of 1619-20.50 Recs. Virg. Co. iii. 68; HMC Hastings, ii. 57-8; APC, 1619-21, pp. 204-5. However, this was only one of his interests. In 1617, he commissioned a catalogue of his library, which ran to 1,555 volumes. Around a quarter of the books were on theology, but he also owned works on such diverse subjects as history, medicine, mathematics, architecture, logic, poetry, and warfare, with a ‘miscellaneous’ section which included a racy Roman classic, the Satyricon of Petronius.51 L. Stone, Crisis of the Aristocracy, 706-7, 794. Despite, or perhaps because of, the significant financial outlay that such interests required, Paget pleaded poverty in late 1620 when requested by the Privy Council to contribute towards the relief of the Palatinate:

besides that I am the poorest man of my rank that hath received any letters from your lordships in this kind, and much indebted, I am become at this time a debtor to the king’s Majesty in a great sum of money, for the payment of which I am daily pressed and I do now endeavour with all my poor strength to discharge it: and I humbly desire that with your lordships’ favour I may have leave to make those payments that are necessary before those that are voluntary.

The nature of this debt to the crown has not been certainly established. However, at around this time Paget was prosecuted by the crown for allegedly failing to pay the bulk of the rent which he owed for a longstanding lease of Cannock forest, close to Beaudesert. Ultimately, these issues were seemingly resolved without causing Paget long-term financial difficulties.52 APC, 1619-21, p. 293; SP14/117/109; Staffs. RO, D(W)1734/1/3/62 (undated, but 1621-5).

The final Jacobean parliaments, 1621-4

In the elections to the 1621 Parliament, Paget may have secured the return of a fellow Virginia Company member, John Ferrar^‡, at Tamworth, a borough less than ten miles from Beaudesert. However, he is not known to have played any part in efforts during this session to restore the franchise at Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where he was lord of the manor.53 HP Commons 1604-29, ii. 26, 374. Paget attended this Parliament assiduously. Obliged by sickness to miss three sittings in late February, for which he was formally excused, he absented himself just seven more times prior to the long summer recess, and on only three occasions during the autumn. From 22 Mar. he held the proxy of Thomas Windsor, 6th Lord Windsor, who had himself fallen ill temporarily.54 LJ, iii. 4b; LD 1621, 1625 and 1628, p. 36. Like Windsor, Paget signed the controversial petition of late February to the king complaining about the social standing of Englishmen who had been granted Scottish or Irish peerages.55 A. Wilson, Hist. of Gt. Britain (1653), 187; LJ, iii. 24a; T. Birch, Ct. and Times of Jas. I, ii. 230-1.

Appointed to the newly-created committee for privileges, Paget attracted 23 more nominations prior to the June adjournment. With the international situation deteriorating, he was named to a committee which considered bills to prevent ordnance exports, and improve the country’s readiness for war. Twice appointed to conferences concerning Parliament’s petition against recusants, who were seen as another security threat, he was further selected to help scrutinize the bill to enforce existing anti-Catholic legislation.56 LJ, iii. 10b, 13a, 17a, 18b, 101a. Paget’s nomination to the committee for the bill to punish Sabbath abuses probably explains his appointment to a later conference about this legislation. He was also named to a select committee to ponder a proposal by the royal favourite, George Villiers^*, marquess (later 1st duke) of Buckingham, for a new academy offering exclusive education to the sons of peers and gentlemen.57 Ibid. 37a, 39b, 130b.

The bulk of Paget’s 13 speeches in this Parliament were made during the inquiry into abuses committed by Buckingham’s kinsman, the corrupt patentee Sir Giles Mompesson^‡. Having already been named to conferences on how to apprehend the fugitive Mompesson, and on the monopoly-related grievances collected by the Commons, Paget was appointed on 15 Mar. to help investigate the erring monopolist’s implementation of his patent for discovering concealed lands. From this point on, he pushed steadily for action by the Lords to address these concerns. On 22 Mar. he secured a resolution that the offenders already detained for examination should not be released when Parliament adjourned for Easter. The next day he reminded the House to discuss the preliminary reports on Mompesson’s patents, while on 26 Mar. he assisted in presenting more detailed findings on the concealed lands patent. Later that day he twice commented on the process of deciding a suitable punishment for Mompesson.58 Ibid. 34a, 42b, 47a, 70b; LD 1621, 1625 and 1628, pp. 34, 40, 44-5. On 28 Apr. Paget urged the Lords to consider the part played by the former attorney general, Sir Henry Yelverton^‡, in enforcing the patent for licensing inns, and was promptly nominated to attend the king to help explain why this matter needed to be addressed by Parliament. A month later, he was named to the committee for the monopolies bill.59 LD 1621, pp. 39-40; LJ, iii. 96b, 137a.

Paget also took a close interest in the inquiry into the corrupt judge Sir John Bennet^‡. However, in this case he showed sympathy for the offender, on 25 Apr. encouraging the House to grant Bennet bail, even though this might upset the Commons. On 9 May he presented a petition from the judge, requesting permission to submit interrogatories to be put to his accusers, while on 4 June he moved for the terms of Bennet’s bail to be adjusted, since one of his original suretors, Sir Baptist Hicks^* (later 1st Viscount Campden) was now unavailable. No personal connection between Paget and Bennet has been found, but one might reasonably be suspected.60 LD 1621, pp. 22, 76; LJ, iii. 156b.

When Parliament reconvened in late autumn, Paget received nine more nominations, the bulk of them relating to property law or economic matters. As a Virginia Company man, he presumably welcomed his appointment to the committee for the bill on the tobacco trade. He was also named to a conference on the bill against informers. His solitary speech again concerned Sir John Bennet, who, as Paget explained on 17 Dec., was unable to attend the Lords due to illness.61 LJ, iii. 171, 177b, 181a, 182b, 184a, 185a-b, 194a; Add. 40086, f. 79.

In 1622, as tensions mounted between the crown and the Virginia Company led by Sir Edwin Sandys, Paget was called upon several times to deliver messages to the king, and in November that year he was added to the committee set up to try and resolve this crisis. By May 1623 it was clear that James was determined to force Sandys out, and Paget opted to remove himself from the scene, obtaining a licence to visit Spa in the bishopric of Liège for six months.62 Recs. Virg. Co. ii. 26, 31, 128, 435; SO3/7, unfol. (28 May 1623). However, he was back in London by late November, when he attended the funeral of the antiquary and herald William Camden.63 Chamberlain Letters, ii. 527. Paget’s decision to absent himself from the company’s turmoil in May 1623 evidently worked in his favour, for when the crown cancelled its charter in the following year, and established a commission to review the colony’s government, he was appointed a member, a role which he continued to exercise for at least a year.64 APC, 1623-5, p. 252.

The 1624 Parliament saw the re-enfranchisement of Great Marlow, though Paget again played no obvious part in the process, and apparently made no effort to influence the first elections there.65 HP Commons, 1604-29, ii. 26-7. As in 1621, he was a very regular face in the Lords, attending nearly 90 per cent of the sittings, making six speeches, and receiving 34 appointments. Paget was particularly active in the early stages of the session. Named to the standing committees for privileges and petitions on 23 Feb. and 9 Mar. respectively, on the latter day he attracted five other nominations, to legislative committees concerned with recusancy, the limiting of law suits, informations on penal statutes, the rights of subjects accused on intruding into crown property, and the estates of the 18th earl of Oxford.66 LJ, iii. 215a, 252b-3b. With pressure mounting for war with Spain, he was appointed on 1 Mar. to help assess the country’s defences and stores of munitions. The next day he was included in the joint committee of both Houses tasked with compiling Parliament’s arguments for breaking off the ongoing Spanish treaties. On 4 Mar. he was named to the joint subcommittee to draft a message of advice to the king arguing for a breach with Spain. When James responded by demanding a very high level of supply in return for a declaration of war, Paget was also nominated on 11 Mar. to the conference at which Prince Charles (Stuart^*, prince of Wales) sought to clarify the king’s position.67 Ibid. 237b, 242b, 244b, 256a.

During the next few weeks, Paget continued to leave his mark on the Lords’ proceedings, being appointed to the committee for the important bill on monopolies. On 20 Mar., he spoke three times during a debate about a libellous attack on the lord keeper, John Williams*, bishop of Lincoln, strongly criticizing the behaviour of its author. In April Paget was named to a conference about the joint petition of both Houses against recusancy, and was also nominated to attend the king when this petition was presented.68 Ibid. 267b, 287b, 304a; LD 1624 and 1626, pp. 36, 42. Nevertheless, he conspicuously failed to play any part in the impeachment proceedings against the lord treasurer, Lionel Cranfield^*, 1st earl of Middlesex, a prominent figure in the Virginia Company, and he made no further comments on the push for war. Indeed, he attracted no further business of note until mid-May, when he received two more conference appointments, concerning complaints about Samuel Harsnett^*, bishop of Norwich (later archbishop of York), and the Commons’ petition against recusant officeholders. On 14 May he reminded the Lords that more than 40 bills were still going through the House, including a number which had failed to complete their passage in 1621 due to the premature dissolution of that session. A week later, with the House still struggling with this backlog, he successfully moved for an additional afternoon sitting.69 LJ, iii. 384b, 393b; LD 1624 and 1626, p. 93; Add. 40088, f. 121. In the final ten days of the session he was himself named to four more bill committees, the subject-matter ranging across cloth manufacture, tactical delays in legal actions, and the estates of three private individuals.70 LJ, iii. 393a, 397a, 399b, 408a.

Declining years and death, 1625-8

Paget was evidently in London ahead of the 1625 Parliament, since he attended the prorogation meetings on 17 May and 13 June. He was also present for the first few days of the Westminster sitting, except for 23 June, when he was noted as absent at a call of the House. On 22 June he helped to introduce Francis Leak^*, 1st Lord Deincourt. However, he then fell ill, and missed the remainder of the session from 27 June. He awarded his proxy to Lord Keeper Williams, and was formally excused on 5 July and 3 August.71 Procs. 1625, pp. 39, 47, 89, 130.

When the 1626 Parliament was summoned, Paget finally exercised electoral patronage at Great Marlow, securing the return there of his son-in-law, Sir William Hicks.72 HP Commons 1604-29, ii. 27. However, he was still struggling with illness, and missed the opening month of this session, being noted as absent and unwell at a call of the House on 15 February. He was again excused on 17 Apr., after a three-day absence, though no reason was supplied. Thereafter he attended regularly, missing just eight more sittings, but the damage was done, and in total he was present for only three-fifths of the Parliament.73 Procs. 1626, i. 49, 270.

Paget was added to the committee for petitions on 17 May, and received 16 other nominations, but few of them were of great consequence, and he apparently never spoke in the House. Named to a committee to consider a petition on behalf of captives held by Sallee pirates, he was also nominated to help apportion the charitable collection for plague victims in London and Westminster authorized by the 1625 Parliament. In addition, he was appointed to the committee for drafting the Lords’ advice to the king on the rival claims to the earldom of Oxford and the office of great chamberlain.74 Ibid. 191, 251, 258, 496. His bill committee nominations covered a wide range of topics, from reform of Sabbath abuses and debarring lesser clergy from serving as magistrates, to the cloth trade, a ban on wool exports, the naturalization of Samuel Powell, the son of a London merchant, and the estates of Dutton Gerard^*, 3rd Lord Gerard.75 Ibid. 206, 231, 300, 327, 545. Paget remained silent throughout the sustained attack on the duke of Buckingham, and his attitude towards the latter’s impeachment is therefore unclear. He became involved in this political wrangling only on 22 May, when he was named to help examine witnesses on both sides in the treason trial of the duke’s enemy John Digby^*, 1st earl of Bristol. In connection with this task, he signed a deposition by Sir Dudley Digges^‡ on 9 June.76 Ibid. 541, 597.

Parliament’s failure in 1626 to grant supply led to fresh efforts by the crown to raise money by other means. Paget was appointed a Forced Loan commissioner that September, but was unenthusiastic about arbitrary taxation. In July 1627 he was sent a sharp reminder by the Privy Council that, although he had now contributed £100, he still owed another £50, and failure to pay this sum within ten days would be interpreted as outright refusal. As no further sanctions were imposed on him, he presumably obliged.77 E401/1914, unfol. (19 Apr. and 8 June 1627); APC, 1627, pp. 419-20.

In marked contrast to the previous Parliament, Paget attended virtually the whole of the 1628 session, missing just two sittings, on 1 May and 25 June. Now one of the longest-serving members of the Lords, he was appointed by the crown a trier of petitions from England, Scotland and Ireland on the opening day, his nomination probably also reflecting his previous experience of handling petitions to the House. Perhaps surprisingly, he was not named this time to the standing committee for petitions, nor to that for privileges. The latter omission may have been an oversight, for he did assist in checking the accuracy of entries in the Journal, a task normally performed by the privileges subcommittee. On 20 Mar. he served as a supporter when William Hervey^*, Lord Hervey was introduced to the Lords.78 Lords Procs. 1628, pp. 62, 75, 79 n. 10, 461 n. 5, 508 n. 7.

During the course of this session, Paget received 21 other appointments, and made nine speeches. A proportion of his nominations related to business already considered in 1626. For example, he was named to help take the accounts of the collections for relief of London plague victims and the ransoming of Sallee captives. Similarly, when the abortive 1626 bills concerning Samuel Powell’s naturalization and Lord Gerard’s estates resumed their passage through Parliament, Paget was again appointed to the committees. Appropriately, he was selected to help consider Buckingham’s proposals for increasing maritime trade, and he presumably took an interest in the bill about fishing off the North American coast, which had implications for the Virginia colonists.79 Ibid. 146, 189, 548, 555, 678. Nominated to confer with the Commons about the petition for a general fast, Paget was also named to bill committees concerned with clergy funding, restrictions on preaching, and the practice of sending children abroad to be educated as Catholics.80 Ibid. 78, 112, 579, 678.

When the Lords began debating the liberties of the subject, in response to the Commons’ resolutions against arbitrary rule, Paget seemed at first to support the status quo. On 2 Apr. he defended a magistrate at Banbury, Oxfordshire, who had declined to interfere with the processes of martial law, and on 21 Apr. he apparently rejected the Commons’ view that the king should not detain people without stating the cause. Nevertheless, he was not an ally of Buckingham, arguing eight days later that parliamentary privilege should be granted to the estranged and adulterous wife of the duke’s brother John Villiers^*, Viscount Purbeck.81 Ibid. 138, 142, 314, 360. On 9 May Paget was named to the committee to consider whether changes were needed to the Commons’ newly-presented Petition of Right. As late as 14 May he was still open to the idea of the Lords modifying the Petition to make it more palatable to the king, but six days later he firmly rejected Buckingham’s calls for an additional clause saving the royal prerogative, on the grounds that the Petition as it stood did not affect the prerogative.82 Ibid. 400, 429, 480-1, 484, 487. He maintained his opposition the next day, arguing that the saving clause should not be adopted without the judges first being asked to rule on whether it would undermine the entire petition, as the Commons alleged: ‘I hope your lordships will, in this great point of liberty of the subject, speak plainly and not let it depend upon any nice and thin distinction which one amongst a hundred does not understand’.83 Ibid. 490, 493, 496. On 10 June Paget was nominated to help examine witnesses against Roger Manwaring^† (later bishop of St Davids), a controversial cleric who had preached in support of the Forced Loan. Eight days later, the king having finally approved the petition of right, Paget reminded the House of the Commons’ request for the petition to be printed.84 Ibid. 612, 663.

Paget died in August 1628, and was buried at West Drayton, as he had requested. Some doubts evidently still lingered about his allegiance to the Anglican faith, and he was careful in his will, drawn up on 20 Nov. 1627, to specify that his funeral should be conducted ‘according to the order … appointed in the Church of England’. He also requested that his children be instructed in that same tradition, ‘and in no other wise’. To his wife, he bequeathed half of his personal goods, a portion of his East India Company investment, and the house that he rented in Westminster. He provided dowries of £2,000 for his two unmarried daughters, and specified maintenance of 100 marks per annum for his younger son Thomas. To his household servants he allowed a year’s wages each, but he made no provision for the poor. By a final codicil shortly before his death, he divided his own clothes between two menservants as a reward for ‘their pains taken with him in the time of his sickness’. The residue of Paget’s estate, along with his barony, descended to his eldest son William (Paget^†, 6th Lord Paget) who was then just over a year short of his majority.85 Lysons, 41; PROB 11/154, f. 362r-v; Collins, 187-8.