Captain William Paget (22 December 1769 – September 1794) was a British Royal Navy officer and Member of Parliament.

Background

Paget was the second son of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge, and Jane, daughter of the Very Reverend Arthur Champagné. He was the brother of

Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey (17 May 1768 – 29 April 1854), styled Lord Paget between 1784 and 1812 and known as the Earl of Uxbridge between 1812 and 1815, was a British Army officer and politician. After serving as a member ...

, Sir Arthur Paget,

Sir Edward Paget General Sir Edward Paget (3 November 1775 – 13 May 1849) was a British Army officer. Career Born the fourth son of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge, Edward Paget became a cornet in the 1st Regiment of Life Guards in 1792. He was Member of ...

Sir Charles Paget Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Paget GCH (7 October 1778 – 27 January 1839) was a British sailor who also became a liberal politician and Member of Parliament. Naval career Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Paget (1778–1839) was the son of Henry Bayly Pa ...

and

Berkeley Paget The Honourable Berkeley Thomas Paget (2 January 1780 – 26 October 1842) was a British politician. Background Paget was the sixth son of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge, and Jane, daughter of the Very Reverend Arthur Champagné. He was the y ...

. He was educated at Westminster School from 1779 to 1781, prior to entering the Royal Navy
Article in History of Parliament.

Naval and political career

From Midshipman rank in 1783, Paget served in the Navy and achieved the rank of Captain (naval), captain in 1793 On 17 July 1794, while commanding the 50-gun Fourth Rate HMS ''Romney'', he captured the French frigate ''Sibylle'', known as 'one of the largest the French had', at the Battle of Mykonos. In the two years before his death he also captured ten French merchant vessels. In 1790 he was returned to parliament for Anglesey, succeeding his uncle Nicholas Bayly, a seat he held until his death four years later. His younger brother Sir Arthur Paget succeeded him as MP.

Personal life

Paget died at sea in September 1794, aged 24, after an old wound, which he originally received by a murder attempt in Constantinople some eight to ten years earlier, reopened. He never married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paget, William 1769 births 1794 deaths British MPs 1790–1796 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies Royal Navy officers Younger sons of earls William