thumb|243px|Arms of Sir William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, KG, granted 21 March 1552

William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert (15069 June 1563), was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. He was the patriarch of the Paget family, whose descendants were created Earl of Uxbridge (1714) and Marquess of Anglesey (1815).

Early life and education

William Paget was born around 1506 in humble circumstances, but little is confirmed about his origin. A family named Paget was recorded as nail makers in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, during the Tudor period. His father has been variously described as a sheep shearer, barber, clothworker, constable, or nail smithy.

According to Sir William Dugdale, he was the son of John Pachett or Paget, one of the serjeants-at-mace of the city of London. According to Staffordshire historian Frederick Hackwood, he was born in Wednesbury and taken to London by his father when he was very young.

Paget must have been extremely bright, as he was accepted as a pupil at St Paul's School when William Lily was its headmaster. At St Paul's, he befriended the future antiquary John Leland and later acted as one of his benefactors, and became close friends with Sir Thomas Wriothesley and Sir Anthony Denny. At Cambridge, he was taken under the wing of Stephen Gardiner, Master at Trinity Hall, who became his patron. In April 1543 he was sworn of the privy council and appointed secretary of state, in which position Henry VIII relied on his advice, at last appointing him one of the council to act during the minority of King Edward VI.

Paget at first vigorously supported the protector Somerset, while counselling a moderation which Somerset did not always observe. Paget would go on to become increasingly alienated from the Duke, reaching out to him in a series of letters from February 1548 in which he tried to persuade Somerset to take others' opinions into consideration. He blamed Somerset's dictatorial style and foolish attempts to help the poor for the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549. In 1547 he was made controller of the king's household, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, elected knight of the shire (MP) for Staffordshire and made a knight of the Garter; and in 1549 he was summoned by writ to the House of Lords as Baron Paget de Beaudesert (at which point he ceased to be the Clerk of the Parliaments He obtained Beaudesert in Staffordshire, which remained the chief seat of the Paget family.

Paget shared Somerset's disgrace, being committed to the Tower in 1551 and degraded from the Order of the Garter in the following year, besides suffering a heavy fine by the Star Chamber for having profited at the expense of the Crown in his administration of the duchy of Lancaster. He was, however, restored to the king's favour in 1553, and was one of the twenty-six peers who signed Edward's settlement of the crown on Lady Jane Grey in June of that year. He made his peace with Queen Mary I, who reinstated him as a knight of the Garter and in the privy council in 1553, and appointed him Lord Privy Seal in 1556. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558, Paget retired from public life.

Marriage and issue

In 1530, Paget married Anne, allegedly daughter of Henry Preston, grandson of Thomas Preston of Preston, Lancashire, and Nether Levens Hall, Westmorland. They four sons and six daughters.

  • Henry, 2nd Baron Paget (c.1539 – 28 December 1568), succeeded his father to the peerage
  • Thomas, 3rd Baron Paget (c.1540–1589), succeeded elder brother to the peerage
  • Charles, well-known Catholic conspirator during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I; his brother Thomas was suspected of complicity in Charles's plots and was attainted in 1587
  • Edward (died young)
  • Etheldreda, married Sir Christopher Allen of Ightham Mote, Kent
  • Eleanor, married firstly, Jerome Palmer, Esq., and secondly, Sir Rowland Clarke
  • Grisold (or Grizelda), married firstly, Sir Thomas Rivett, and secondly, Sir William Waldegrave
  • Joane (or Jane), married Sir Thomas Kitson
  • Dorothy, married Sir Thomas Willoughby (died 1559)
  • Anne (died 1590), married Sir Henry Lee

The 7th Baron Paget was created Baron Burton in 1712 and Earl of Uxbridge in 1714.