# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Paget, William (1609-1678)

​PAGET, Sir WILLIAM, fifth Lord Paget (1609–1678), born in 1609, was eldest son of William, fourth baron Paget [q. v.] He was made K.B. at the coronation of Charles I on 2 Feb. 1625 (Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 186), and on 18 Dec. 1627 matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, but did not graduate (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, iii. 107). In 1639 he was summoned to parliament. On the question of precedency of supply being moved in the House of Lords, 24 April 1640, he voted against the king (Lords' Journals, iv. 67), and on 18 Aug. following he was among the peers who petitioned the king, then at York, to summon a parliament for the redress of grievances (Nalson, Collection, i. 437). On 9 Feb. 1642 his father-in-law, Lord Holland, appointed him keeper of New Lodge Walk in Windsor Forest (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1641–3, p. 279). The same year he was constituted by the parliament lord lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 56), and on 23 May addressed a letter to Lord Holland from Beaconsfield, ‘shewing the great readinesse of that county to obey the ordinance of the parliament touching the militia.’ When, however he found that the parliament actually meant to have recourse to arms, he joined the king at York, and stated his reasons in a letter read to the House of Commons on 20 June. He was accordingly discharged from his lieutenancy on 24 June (Commons' Journals, ii. 633, 638). Paget's two letters were printed in broadsheet form. On 22 June he undertook to maintain thirty horse for the king (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1641–3, pp. 340–4), but he eventually raised a regiment, which did good service at the battle of Edgehill on 23 Oct. (Saunderson, Life of Charles I, p. 584). He was one of the lords who at Oxford, on 27 Jan. 1643–4, signed a declaration, by the king's command, of the most probable means to settle the peace of the kingdom (Rushworth, Hist. Coll. pt. iii. vol. ii. p. 566). He had his estate sequestered, and was obliged to compound for it by purchasing fee-farm rents of 750l. upon it (cf. his petition in Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660–1, p. 334). In 1644 he was assessed at 2,000l., but the assessment was respited until further order (Cal. of Comm. for Advance of Money, p. 476). On 28 Nov. 1644 the House of Commons accepted 500l. in discharge of part of his fine, and ordered the sequestration to be taken off upon payment of 500l. more (Commons' Journals, iii. 707). At the Restoration Paget and his wife unsuccessfully petitioned the king for grants and ​sinecures to make good their losses (Eg. MS. 2549, f. 102). He died intestate on 19 Oct. 1678, at his house in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, and was buried at West Drayton. By his marriage to Lady Frances Rich (d. 1672), eldest daughter of Henry, earl of Holland, he had three sons and seven daughters. His eldest son and successor, William, sixth baron Paget (1637–1713), is separately noticed. His funeral sermon was preached by John Heynes, ‘preacher of the New Church, Westminster,’ and published in 1678.
Evans (Cat. of Engraved Portraits, ii. 307) mentions a quarto drawing of Paget in colours.
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