Henry William Paget, 1. Marquess of Anglesey, Earl of Uxbridge

So the minis for the Lord Uxbridge base have been for some days now, but they had been causing some problems. First of all the photos I took of the finished models before basing them (and I mean all of them) turned out somewhat blurry. Not sure if it was the sensor or anything, but bottom line is… they were useless and I could not post a final WIP. Sorry about that! When I applied the first coat of varnish it turned glossy (new can that I probably did not shake well enough) and it took another three coats to turn it matt. This took some time, since I had wait for each coat to dry completely through. But on Saturday it finally turned matt and I could work on the basing. Before I go on to the photos here is some info on the big man himself:

Henry William Paget was born in London, as Henry Bayly (his father assumed the name Paget in 1770), he was the eldest son of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge, by his wife Jane, daughter of the Very Reverend Arthur Champagné, Dean of Clonmacnoise, Ireland.  He was the oldest brother to Captain William Paget, Sir Arthur Paget, General Sir Edward Paget, Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Paget and Berkeley.

At first he entered politics and became a member of parliament at the 1790 general election as member for Caernarfon in Wales. He held this seat until the 1796 general election when his brother Edward was elected unopposed in his place. He then represented Milborne Port from 1796 until he resigned his seat in 1804 by appointment as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, and again from the 1806 election to January 1810, when he took the Chiltern Hundreds again.

At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, Paget raised the regiment of Staffordshire volunteers and was given the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1793. As the 80th Foot, the corps took part in the Flanders campaign of 1794 under Paget’s command. In 1795 he was made a lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Light Dragoons. In 1796 he was made a colonel and by 1801 he had become colonel of the 7th Light Dragoons. In 1802 he was promoted major-general, and six years later lieutenant-general. He commanded the cavalry for Sir John Moore’s army during the 1809 Corunna campaign. His only war service from 1809 to 1815 was in the disastrous Walcheren expedition (1809), in which he commanded a division.

In 1815, he was appointed cavalry commander in Belgium. On the eve of Waterloo, Paget had his command extended by Wellington so as to include the whole of the allied cavalry and horse artillery. He handily covered the retirement of the Anglo-Allies from Quatre Bras to Waterloo on 17 June, and on 18 June led the spectacular cavalry charge of the British centre, which checked and in part routed D’Erlon’s corps d’armée. One of the last cannon shots fired that day hit Paget in the right leg, necessitating its amputation.

Henry William Paget, 1. Marquess of Anglesey, Earl of Uxbridge

In 1819 Paget, now Marquess of Anglesey, became full general and at the coronation of George IV, he acted as Lord High Steward of England. In April 1827, he became a member of the Canning administration, taking the post of Master-General of the Ordnance and becoming a member of the Privy Council. Under the Wellington administration, he accepted the appointment of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (March 1828). In December 1828, he addressed a letter to the Roman Catholic primate of Ireland stating his belief in the need for Catholic emancipation, which led to his recall by the government. On the formation of Earl Grey’s administration in November 1830, he again became lord-lieutenant of Ireland. In July 1833, the ministry resigned over the Irish question, he spent thirteen years out of office, then joined Lord John Russell’s administration in July 1846 as master-general of the ordnance, finally retiring in March 1852 with the rank of field-marshal and colonel of the Royal Horse Guards. He also held the honorary posts of Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey between 1812 and 1854 and Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire between 1849 and 1854.

Lord Anglesey died April 29, 1854, and was buried at Lichfield Cathedral, where a monument is erected to his honour.

He was quiet a fertile character. He fathered eight children with his first wife, Lady Caroline Elizabeth Villiers, from whom he was divorced in 1810. And another nine with Lady Charlotte Cadogan, former wife of Lord Henry Wellesley, Wellington’s brother.

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s

Lord Uxbridge and ADC´s