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ANGLESEY, HENRY WILLIAM PAGET

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 17 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANGLESEY, See also:HENRY See also:WILLIAM See also:PAGET , 1st See also:MARQUESS of (1768-1854), See also:British See also:field-See also:marshal, was See also:born on the 17th of May 1768. He was the eldest son of Henry Paget, 1st See also:earl of See also:Uxbridge (d. 1812), and was educated at See also:Westminster School and See also:Christ See also:Church, See also:Oxford, afterwards entering See also:parliament in 1790 as member for See also:Carnarvon, for which he sat for six years. At the outbreak of the See also:French Revolutionary See also:wars See also:Lord Paget (as he was then styled), who had already served in the See also:militia, raised on his See also:father's See also:estate the See also:regiment of See also:Staffordshire See also:volunteers, in which he was given the temporary See also:rank of See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel (1793). The See also:corps soon became See also:part of the See also:regular See also:army as the Both See also:Foot, and it took part, under Lord Paget's command, in the See also:Flanders See also:campaign of 1794. In spite of his youth he held a See also:brigade command for a See also:time, and gained also, during the campaign, his first experience of the See also:cavalry See also:arm, with which he was thence-forward associated. His substantive See also:commission as lieutenant-colonel of the 16th See also:Light Dragoons See also:bore the date of the 15th of See also:June 1795, and in 1796 he was made a colonel in the army. In 1795 he married See also:Lady See also:Caroline See also:Elizabeth See also:Villiers, daughter of the earl of See also:Jersey. In See also:April 1797 Lord Paget was transferred to a lieut.-colonelcy in the 7th Light Dragoons, of which regiment he became colonel in 1891. From the first he applied himself strenously to the improvement of discipline, and to the perfection of a new See also:system of cavalry evolutions. In the See also:short campaign of 1799 in See also:Holland, Paget commanded the cavalry brigade, and in spite of the unsuitable See also:character of the ground, he made, on several occasions, brilliant and successful charges. After the return of the expedition, he devoted himself zealously to his regiment, which under his command became one of the best corps in the service.

In 1802 he was promoted See also:

major-See also:general, and six years later lieutenant-general. In command of the cavalry of See also:Sir See also:John See also:Moore's army during the See also:Corunna campaign, Lord Paget won the .greatest distinction. At Sahagun, Mayorga and Benavente, the British cavalry behaved so well under his leadership that Moore wrote:—" It is impossible for me to say too much in its praise. . . . Our cavalry is very See also:superior in quality to any the French have, and the right spirit has been infused into them by the example and instruction of their ... leaders . . . ." At Benavente one of See also:Napoleon's best cavalry leaders, General See also:Lefebvre Desnoettes, was taken prisoner. Corunna was Paget's last service in the See also:Peninsula. His liaison with the wife of Henry See also:Wellesley, after-wards Lord See also:Cowley, made it impossible at that time for him to serve with See also:Wellington, whose cavalry, on many occasions during the succeeding See also:campaigns, See also:felt the want of the true cavalry See also:leader to See also:direct them. His only See also:war service from 18o9 to 1815 was in the disastrous Walcheren expedition (1809) in which he commanded a See also:division. During these years he occupied himself with his See also:parliamentary duties as member for Milborne See also:Port, which he represented almost continuously up to his father's See also:death in 1812, when he took his seat in the See also:House of Lords as earl of Uxbridge. In 1810 he was divorced and married Mrs Wellesley, who had about the same time been divorced from her See also:husband.

Lady Paget was soon afterwards married to the See also:

duke of See also:Argyll. In 1815 Lord Uxbridge received command of the British cavalry in Flanders. At a moment of danger such as that of Napoleon's return from See also:Elba, the services of the best cavalry general in the British army could not be neglected. Wellington placed the greatest confidence in him, and on the See also:eve of See also:Waterloo extended his command so as to include the whole of the allied cavalry and See also:horse See also:artillery. He covered the retirement of the See also:allies from Quatre See also:Bras to Waterloo on the 17th of June, and on the 18th gained the crowning distinction of his military career in leading the See also:great cavalry See also:charge of the British centre, which checked and in part routed D'Erlon's corps d'armee (see WATERLOO CAMPAIGN). Freely exposing his own See also:life throughout, the earl received, by one of the last See also:cannon shots fired, a severe See also:wound in the See also:leg, necessitating amputation. Five days later the See also:prince See also:regent created him marquess of Anglesey in recognition of his brilliant services, which were regarded universally as second only to those of the duke himself. He was made a G.C.B. and he was also decorated by many of the allied sovereigns. In 1818 the marquess was made a See also:knight of the Garter, in 1819 he became full general, and at the See also:coronation of See also:George IV. he acted as lord high steward of See also:England. His support of the proceedings against See also:Queen Caroline made him for a time unpopular, and when he was on one occasion beset by a See also:crowd, who compelled him to shout " The Queen," he added the wish, " May all your wives be like her." At the See also:close of April 1827 he became a member of the See also:Canning See also:administration, taking the See also:post of See also:master-general of the See also:ordnance, previously held by Wellington. He was at the same time sworn a member of the privy See also:council. Under the Wellington administration he accepted the See also:appointment of lord-lieutenant of See also:Ireland (See also:March 1828), and in the See also:discharge of his important duties he greatly endeared himself to the Irish See also:people.

The spirit in which he acted and the aims which he steadily set before himself contributed to the allaying of party animosities, to the promotion of a willing submission to the See also:

laws, to the prosperity of See also:trade and to the See also:extension and improvement of See also:education. On the great question of the time his views were opposed to those of the See also:government. He saw clearly that the time was come when the See also:relief of the Catholics from the penal legislation of the past was an indispensable measure, and in See also:December 1828 he addressed a See also:letter to the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:primate of Ireland distinctly announcing his view. This led to his recall by the government, a step sincerely lamented by the Irish. He pleaded for Catholic emancipation in parliament, and on the formation of Earl See also:Grey's administration in See also:November 1830, he again became lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The times were changed; the See also:act of emancipation had been passed, and the task of See also:viceroy in his second See also:tenure of See also:office was to resist the agitation for See also:repeal of the See also:union carried on by O'Connell. He felt it his See also:duty now to demand See also:Coercion Acts for the See also:security of the public See also:peace; his popularity was diminished, See also:differences appeared in the See also:cabinet on the difficult subject, and in See also:July 1833 the See also:ministry resigned. To the marquess of Anglesey Ireland is indebted-for the See also:board of education, the origination of which may perhaps be reckoned as the most memorable act of his viceroyalty. For thirteen years after his retirement heremained out of office, and took little part in the affairs of government. He joined the See also:Russell administration in July 1846 as master-general of the ordnance, finally retiring with his See also:chief in March 1852. His promotion in the army was completed by his See also:advancement to the rank of field-marshal in 1846. Four years before, he exchanged his colonelcy of the 7th Light Dragoons which he had held over See also:forty years, for that of the Royal Horse See also:Guards.

He died on the 29th of April 1854. The marquess had a large See also:

family by each of his two wives, two sons and six daughters by the first and six sons and four daughters by the second. His eldest son, Henry, succeeded him in the marquessate; but the See also:title passed rapidly in See also:succession to the 3rd, 4th and 5th marquesses. The latter, whose extravagances were notorious, died in 1905, when the title passed to his See also:cousin. Other members of the Paget family distinguished themselves in the army and the See also:navy. Of the first marquess's See also:brothers one, SIR See also:CHARLES PAGET (1778-1839), See also:rose to the rank of See also:vice-See also:admiral in the Royal Navy; another, General SIR See also:EDWARD PAGET (1775-1849), won great distinction by his skilful and resolute handling of a division at Corunna, and from 1822 to 1825 was See also:commander-in-chief in See also:India. One of the marquess's sons by his second See also:marriage, LORD See also:CLARENCE EDWARD PAGET (1811-1895), became an admiral; another, LORD GEORGE See also:AUGUSTUS See also:FREDERICK PAGET (1818-188o), led the 4th Light Dragoons in the charge of the Light Brigade at See also:Balaklava, and subsequently commanded the brigade, and, for a short time, the cavalry division in the See also:Crimea. In 1865 he was made inspector-general of cavalry, in 1871 lieutenant-general and K.C.B., and in 1877 full general. His See also:Crimean See also:journals were published in 1881.

End of Article: ANGLESEY, HENRY WILLIAM PAGET

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