Sir Richard Paget, 2nd Baronet
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Sir Richard Arthur Surtees Paget, 2nd Baronet (13 January 1869 – 23 October 1955) was a British barrister and amateur scientific investigator, who specialised in
speech science Speech science refers to the study of production, transmission and perception of speech. Speech science involves anatomy, in particular the anatomy of the oro-facial region and neuroanatomy, physiology, and acoustics. Speech production The pro ...
and the
origin of speech The origin of speech differs from the origin of language because language is not necessarily spoken; it could equally be Written language, written or Sign language, signed. Speech is a fundamental aspect of human communication and plays a vital ...
. Following the publication of his book on these topics, ''Human Speech'', in 1930, Paget worked for the remaining decades of his life on a new type of signing system for the deaf, which became the Paget Gorman Sign System.


Early life and education

Paget was born in 1869 at Cranmore Hall, Somerset. His father was Sir Richard Paget, 1st Baronet, a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
member of parliament; his mother was Caroline Isabel Surtees, the daughter of
Henry Surtees Henry John Surtees (18 February 1991 – 19 July 2009) was a British racing driver and the son of John Surtees. He died during a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch when he was struck by a wheel which came off another car which had spun into a wa ...
, another MP, of
County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
. He was educated at
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
, and then at
Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...
, where he received a third-class degree in chemistry. He succeeded his father as Paget Baronet in 1908.Harry Lowery
‘Paget, Sir Richard Arthur Surtees, second baronet (1869–1955)’
rev. John Bosnell, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008, accessed 5 January 2014.


Legal career

Paget was
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
as a
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
at the
Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...
in 1895. His sharp legal and scientific mind saw him appointed to a number of legal commissions, boards and committees, including the London Court of Arbitration, the Patent Law Committee, and the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...
Board of Invention and Research The Board of Invention and Research (BIR) was a British expert-level committee, initiated by the Admiralty of the Royal Navy. Established in 1915, the board was responsible for soliciting expert scientific assistance to solve tactical and techn ...
.


Amateur scientist

Educated as a chemist and having worked as a physicist, Paget held a deep interest in various fields of science. He was also well-versed in music and the arts (and had written several songs as well as constructed his own musical instruments), but his reputation was that of an "eccentric amateur" scientist. Sir Richard's daughter,
Pamela Paget Pamela commonly refers to: * ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'', a novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740 * Pamela (name), a given name and, rarely, a surname. Pamela may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pamela Spence, a Tur ...
(later Lady Glenconner), was often a subject of his experiments. Pamela's nephew and Sir Richard's grandson,
Alexander Chancellor Alexander Surtees Chancellor, CBE (4 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was a British journalist and editor. He was the editor of ''The Spectator'' from 1975 to 1984. Background Alexander Chancellor was born in 1940 in Dane End, Hertfordshir ...
, wrote in his "Long Life" column in ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'' that Pamela had broken her arm when Sir Richard encouraged her to throw herself backwards from the open platform of a
London bus Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn ''omnibus'' service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London ...
on
Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park to ...
to demonstrate his theory that, due to air currents, one could fall horizontally from a bus travelling at a certain speed and land safely on the road. According to Lady Glenconner's obituary in ''The Telegraph'', Sir Richard had also filled his daughters' ears with
treacle Treacle () is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar.Oxford Dictionary The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety, and black treacle, a darker variety similar to molasses. Black treacle has a distinctiv ...
(to simulate deafness) while testing his sign language system.


Speech and sign language

Sir Richard's most enduring legacy was his research into the nature of human speech and communication. While he made contributions to several branches of the field from phonetics and vocalisation to linguistics and vocabulary, it was his theories on the origin of speech and the "pantomimic action" of the lips and tongue being related to the speaker's senses and emotions that led to his central thesis that hand signs and gestures were the original form of human communication, and that humans had evolved to communicate vocally as their "hands
ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...
full".Peterson, Joseph
''Human Speech: Some Observations, Experiments, and Conclusions as to the Nature, Origin, Purpose and Possible Improvement of Human Speech'' by Richard Paget
''The American Journal of Psychology'', Vol. 43, No. 4 (Oct. 1931), pp. 710–712.
His book on these ideas, ''Human Speech'', was published in 1930, and was re-issued in 1964 due to its connections with later developments in communication engineering. The Irish author
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
was a close follower of Paget's research, and his works and those of
Marcel Jousse Marcel Jousse (28 July 1886 – 14 August 1961) was a French Jesuit and anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social a ...
were influential in Joyce's study and use of language.Supplementing Babel: Paget in VI.B.32’
in ''James Joyce: The Study of Languages'', ed. Dirk Van Hulle (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2002) (p. 75-89.)
In the 1930s, Sir Richard began developing a manually coded
sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...
system. He collaborated with the librarian at the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, Pierre Gorman, to develop the system further. Upon his death in 1955, his widow, Lady Grace Paget, continued the work with Gorman, and the resulting Paget Gorman Sign System was widely used in the education of deaf children in Britain from the 1960s to the 1980s.Paget Gorman Signed Speech – Our History
Paget Gorman Signed Speech.


Marriage and children

Paget was married twice. His first marriage was to Lady Muriel Evelyn Vernon Finch-Hatton (daughter of
Murray Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea Murray Edward Gordon Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea and 7th Earl of Nottingham (28 March 1851 – 7 September 1898), styled the Hon. Murray Finch-Hatton until 1887, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and agricu ...
) on 31 May 1897; they had three daughters and two sons (one of whom died as an infant). His youngest child, John Starr Paget (1914–1992), succeeded him in the Paget Baronetcy as the 3rd Baronet.Sybil Oldfield
‘Paget, Lady Muriel Evelyn Vernon (1876–1938)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biograph''y, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006, accessed 5 January 2014.
Lady Muriel died in 1938 of cancer and exhaustion. On 22 July 1939, Sir Richard married Grace Hartley Glover; they had no children.


References


External links

Sir Richard Paget – “5 is much too old!”
– 2013, University College London Action on Hearing Loss Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Paget, Richard, 2nd Baronet 1869 births 1955 deaths 302 Speech and language pathologists People involved with sign language English physicists English barristers Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People educated at Eton College People from Mendip District