Lord Alfred Paget


Lord Alfred Henry Paget was a British soldier, courtier and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1837 and 1865.

Biography

Paget was the sixth son of the 1st Marquess of Anglesey. 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, when he was defeated by the Conservative Richard Dyott.
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.
He was the Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, 1846–1873, and Vice-Commodore, 1845-1846 and 1874–1888.
On 1 August 1874, he resigned the Chief Equerryship only. He became a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1854. He lived at 42 Grosvenor Place, London, and at Melford Hall, Sudbury, Suffolk.
He died in 1888 unexpectedly, on his yacht off Inverness.

Business interests

Paget was a director of the North Staffordshire Railway Company between January 1854 and February 1875.

Personal life

Paget married Cecilia Wyndham, second daughter and co-heiress of George Thomas Wyndham, of Cromer Hall, Norfolk in 1847. Their children were:
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 ; but in real life, Lord Alfred married Cecilia Wyndham.