Shirley Paget, Marchioness of Anglesey


Elizabeth Shirley Vaughan Paget, Marchioness of Anglesey, , better known as Dame Shirley Paget, was a British public servant and writer.

Early life and education

She was born in Chelsea, London, the daughter of novelists Charles Langbridge Morgan and Hilda Vaughan and granddaughter of engineer Sir Charles Langbridge Morgan. She was named after the heroine in Charlotte Brontë's 1849 novel Shirley.
She and her younger brother, Roger Morgan, grew up in Notting Hill, London. She was educated at Francis Holland School and Malvern St James until the Second World War, when she, her brother, and their mother moved to America. She finished her schooling at Kent Place School in New Jersey.

Career

Shirley Morgan began her career in the Foreign Office as personal secretary to Gladwyn Jebb until her marriage to Lord Anglesey in 1949.
As Marchioness of Anglesey, she served as President of the National Federation of Women's Institutes 1966–1969, a board member of the British Council 1985–1995, chairman of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission 1987–1991, and vice-chairman of the Museums and Galleries Commission 1989–1996.
As an author she wrote The Countrywoman's Year.

Personal life

She married Henry Paget, 7th Marquess of Anglesey on 16 October 1948, a year after he succeeded to the marquessate. They had met at the 1946 Paris peace conference. Queen Mary was a guest at their wedding as King George V was a godfather of the groom.
Their marriage produced five children:
She died in 2017, aged 92, at a Moorlands Lodge nursing home in Surrey.

Honours

Paget was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1977. She was invested as a Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire in 1983. She was later invested as a Lieutenant, Royal Victorian Order in 1993.