Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
General Sir Edward Paget
November 3rd 1775-May 13th 1849
General Sir Edward Paget GCB, GCTS (1775–1849) was a British Army officer.
Sir Edward Paget was born on the 3d Nov. 1775, the fourth son of Henry first Earl of Uxbridge, by Jane, eldest daughter of the Very Rev. Arthur Champagne, Dean of Clonmacnoise.
He was appointed Cornet and Sub-Lieutenant in the 1st Life Guards the 23rd March, 1793; Captain in the 54th Foot 1st Dec. following ; and Major the 14th Nov. 1793. The 30th April, 1794, he obtained a Lieut.-Colonelcy in the 28th Foot, and in that year he served the campaign in Flanders and Holland. In March, 1795, he returned with his regiment to Ireland, and sailed in the expedition for Quiberon, but was recalled.
In Sept. following, he sailed for the West Indies, under the orders of Sir Ralph Abercromby, but was twice driven back, and finally, in Jan. 1796, landed at Portsmouth. In July, 1796, he went to Gibraltar, and from this period to the end of 1801 he was stationed in the Mediterranean.
He was present in the naval action off Cape St. Vincent, the 14th Feb. 1797. The 1st Jan. 1798, he received the rank of Colonel and was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the King. He was at the capture of Minorca in 1798, under Sir Charles Stuart; served the campaign in Egypt, under Sir Ralph Abercromby and Lord Hutchinson, the 28th Foot being in the reserve, commanded by Sir John Moore.
He was in the actions of the 8th, 13th, and 21st of March, and in the latter was wounded ; was also present at the investment of Cairo and Alexandria, and a hostage with the French army of Cairo until their embarkation at Aboukir.
In Oct. 1803, he was appointed Brigadier-General on the staff in Ireland, and stationed at Fermoy; the 2nd of July, 1804, he was removed to the staff in England, and stationed at Brabourne Lees. The 1st of Jan. 1805, he received the rank of Major-General. From April to October, in that year, he commanded a brigade of infantry at Eastbourne, and in the latter month embarked with it, under the orders of General Don, landed at Cuxhaven, and advanced to Bremen; he returned with the army to England in Feb. 1806.
In June following he was appointed to the staff of the army in the Mediterranean, and placed by General Fox in the command of the reserve of the army in Sicily. In Jan. 1808, he returned to England from that island with a part of the army under Sir John Moore, and on the 23rd Feb. received the Colonelcy of the 80th Foot.
In April, 1808, he accompanied Sir John Moore to Sweden, and was appointed by that officer to the reserve of his army. In June he returned with the army to England, and was immediately sent to Portugal, where he was appointed by Sir Hugh Dalrymple to the command of the advanced corps of his army. He served the campaign in Spain, under Sir John Moore, and commanded the reserve of that officer’s army at Corunna, the 16th Jan, 1809. For that victory he received a medal.
He was next appointed to the staff of the army in the Peninsula under Sir Arthur Wellesley, with the local rank of Lieut.-General, and commanded the left wing of the army. He conducted the advance from Coimbra to Oporto, and in the action at Oporto the 12th May, 1809, be lost his right arm, and returned to England.
His lordship in his dispatch observed, in allusion to this accident:
“In Lieut.-General Paget I have lost the assistance of a friend who had been most useful to me in the few days which had elapsed since he had joined the army. He had rendered a most important service at the moment he received his wound, in taking up the position which the troops afterwards maintained and in bearing the first brunt of the enemy’s attack.”
He subsequently served as second in command to Lord Wellington, and was taken prisoner in the retreat of the army from Burgos in 1813. The 4th June, 1811, he received the rank of Lieut. General. On the 26th Dec. 1815, he was removed to the Colonelcy of the 28th Foot; and the 31st Oct. 1818, was appointed Captain of Cowes Castle, in the Isle of Wight, where he later died. He attained the full rank of General on the 27th May, 1825.
Sir Edward Paget received the King’s permission to accept the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword for his services in the Peninsula, on the 29th April, 1812; and he was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath on the 12th June in the same year.
He was twice married: first, in 1805 to the Hon. Frances Bagot, fourth daughter of William first Lord Bagot, who died in 1806 in childbed of her only child.
- Rev. Francis Edward Paget
Secondly, Paget married in 1815, to Lady Harriet Legge, fourth daughter of George third Earl of Dartmouth, who survived him.
- Henry William Paget (1816-1853)
- Frances Jane Paget (1817-1903)
- Harriet Mary Paget (1820-1906)
- Patrick Lewis Cole Paget (1820-1879)
- Charlotte Louisa Paget (1821-1903)
- Barbara Paget (1822-1822)
- Caroline Paget (1823-1894)
- Edward Heneage Paget (1828-1884)
- Mary Georgiana Paget (1829-1902)
The remains of this distinguished officer were consigned to their last resting-place in the cemetery of Chelsea Hospital, on the 21st May. The funeral was a private one, and extremely plain. He was followed to the grave by his four sons, his brother the Marquess of Anglesea, Lords Dartmouth and Crofton, &c.; the officers of the hospital, Lieut.-Colonel Le Blanc, the Major; Captains Evans, Pecvor, Edwards, Chadwick, and Ford ; Colonel Sir John Wilson, the adjutant; and the medical officers, Maclachlan, Gaulter, and Prout. The pensioners in their full dress lined the way from the Government house to the Hospital chapel, and from thence to the burial-ground.
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