George Paget

Paget's Horse, the 51st, 52nd, 68th and 73rd Companies, which together made up the 19th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, was an elite unit. The following description of that regiment, the man who raised it and its recruits is taken from "Absent Minded Beggars" by Will Bennett'. "They were public school-educated men recruited through advertisements in gentlemen's clubs.

The battalion was raised by George Paget, the son of a British general and a compulsive amateur soldier with a penchant for getting himself involved in any conflict that afforded the chance of action. He never seems to have been a regular officer but served in the Russo- Turkish War of 1877-8 and the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, as well as the Zulu War in 1879. Although aged 46 when the Boer War broke out, he went out to South Africa as second-in-command of his regiment and proved himself to be a man of some courage, being wounded twice.

A portly figure who felt at home in the dining rooms and smoking rooms of Pall Mall, Paget recruited 500 officers and men from a tiny, hopelessly inadequate room at the Imperial Yeomanry Committee's offices in Suffolk Street. However, it at least had the advantage of being only a short stroll from the clubs of which he was a member.

Paget's Horse wore a badge made up of the letters PH which provided a source of instant merriment for the wags on the streets of London, who suggested that it stood
for 'Piccadilly Heroes' or more commonly for 'Perfectly Harmless'.Gentlemen troopers such as Cosmo Rose-Innes, a barrister, found that wearing their new uniforms in the capital produced a rich variety of reactions and some odd social contradictions.

He later recalled: "The khaki drew to its wearer, however, many amusing experiences; the fervent 'God bless you' of old ladies in the bus, the friendly offers of navvies to "ave half a pint' in the street, the respect of substantial citizens for one's opinion on the war. The "ave half a pint' situation was the most embarrassing. We were clad as troopers but flattered ourselves we bore the impress of officers and hence a conflict of emotions, the desire to be rollicking good fellows qualified by surprise that our would-be host should not detect the gentleman under the plain khaki."

"Major George Thomas Cavendish Paget was born on 24 May 1853. He was the son of General Lord Alfred Henry Paget and Cecilia Wyndham. He married Dorothy St. Vincent Parker-Jervis, daughter of Edward St. Vincent Parker-Jervis, on 29 August 1916. He and Dorothy St. Vincent Parker-Jervis were divorced in 1922. He died on 28 January 1939 at age 85.

Major George Thomas Cavendish Paget fought in the Turko-Russian War between 1877 and 1878.1 He fought in the Zulu War in 1879. He gained the rank of Major in the service of the Imperial Yeomany. He fought in the Boer War between 1900 and 1901, in Paget's Horse, which he raised. He gained the rank of Temporary Major in 1916."

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Major George Thomas Cavendish Paget (1853-1939)

Date: 30th March 1900

Biography: Grandson of 1st Marquess of Anglesey and third son of General Lord Alfred Paget; served in South Africa, as second-in-command, with the 19th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry (Paget's Horse), which he raised.

Photo Occasion: Publicity surrounding the raising of 'Paget's Horse' and its departure to South Africa
Location: The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond Street, London.

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Paget's Horse In Action.
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Armorial Families
George Thomas Cavendish Paget, Esq., late Major Imp. Yeo. raised Paget's Horse, 1900, b. 1853 ; m. 1916, Dorothy St. Vincent (from whom he obtained a divorce 1922), d. of Edward St. Vincent Parker-Jervis. Res.-Gardner Mansions, Hampstead. Club-Travellers'.

The National Archives
Divorce Court File: 2702.
Appellant: George Thomas Cavendish Paget.
Respondent: Dorothy St Vincent Paget.
Co-respondent: Robert Turner Herald.
Type: Husband's petition for divorce [hd].
Covering dates 1920.
Divorced in 1922
The Times - January 30, 1939
Deaths
Paget. - On Jan. 28, 1939, at Gardnor House, Hampstead, Major George Thomas Cavendish Paget, third son of the late Lord Alfred Paget, aged 85. No flowers, by request.


The Times - January 30, 1939
Major G. T. C. Paget
ACTIVE SERVICE ON MANY FRONTS
"Major George Thomas Cavendish Paget, who was taken ill while yachting some months ago, died on Saturday at Gardnor House, Hampstead, at the age of 85. He came of a famous military family, being the grandson of the first Marquess of Anglesey, who commanded Sir John Moore's cavalry in the Peninsula and Wellington's at Waterloo. Even so he did not enter the British Army as a Regular officer, and he saw much of his active service as a volunteer with the Turks.
The third son of General Lord Alfred Paget - whose mother was the second wife of the first marquess - he was born on May 24, 1853, and went to Wellington College. From his youth he was inclined for travel and adventure, and in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 he was with the Ottoman forces, being on the staff of the commander of the Turkish rear-guard during Suleiman Pasha's retreat through Roumelia. He also served in Bulgaria during the Rhodope insurrection. In 1879, being then in South Africa, he fought in the Zulu War as a volunteer, having a command first with the Native Contingent and then with the Frontier Light Horse. At the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish War in 1897 he was in northern Albania and offered his services to the Turks, but the local Vali had to refer his request to Constantinople, and further delay was caused by the tedious land journey made necessary by the Greek blockade of the coast. It took him three weeks hard travelling to reach the Turkish headquarters at Louros, in Epirus, and by that time hostilities were practically over. It is not surprising that he should have taken part in the South African War. He served with the 19th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry (Paget's Horse) as second-in-command during part of 1900-01 in the temporary rank of major. The Italian campaign in Tripoli in 1912 found him on the side of the Turks again, this time as a staff officer at the advanced post of Suani Beni Adham, south of the town of Tripoli. At the outbreak of the Great War Major Paget, being then in his sixty-second year, did not find it easy to get employment, but in 1915-16 he was attached, again with the temporary rank of major, to the British Adriatic Mission, an appropriate appointment considering his experience of the Near East."

The Times - February 2, 1939
Major G.T.C. Paget
An old friend writes:-
"Major Paget was a strong character with varied interests, a fine type of English soldier, showing always the-courtesy and consideration characteristic of his period. I understand that he came into a good deal of property at Hampstead by the will of an old officer friend named Gardnor. He lived at Gardnor House, and was the landlord of blocks of flats, one of which is called Gardnor Mansions. For years he has used one of those flats for storing the old curios and pictures which he had collected. That was mainly a hobby with him, and he made very little, if any, money out of it. At one time I believe he had some good American clients, but when the slump occurred in the United States a few years ago that market fell away. He still had a few distinguished visitors, who shared his taste for rare and beautiful things. Paget had a large number of stories about his old campaigns. One evening he told me that if he were 20 years younger he would certainly have volunteered for the service of Abyssinia, which country he had explored. Most of his evenings were spent with his collections. He employed a foreman, but I am quite sure he was convinced that no one could be trusted to restore an old picture properly except himself. One of his hobbies was yachting. He kept a little craft at Brightling-sea or in the Essex neighbourhood, and went down there for most week-ends during the year. He knew a great deal about sailing and also fishing, and he was fond of giving his friends presents of the fish he caught."

As George Paget did take part in the Zulu War of 1879, this thread should be moved into The Ones History Books Forgot About.