Sir Richard Paget, 1st Baronet

Who was Sir Richard Paget, 1st Baronet?

Sir Richard Horner Paget, 1st Baronet was a British Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1895.

Paget was the son of John Moore Paget of Cranmore, Somerset and his wife Elizabeth Jane Doveton. He attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was a captain in the 66th Regiment and Honorary lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Prince Albert's Light Infantry. He was a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for Somerset.

In the 1865 general election, Paget was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for East Somerset. However, at the 1868 general election, he was elected instead for Mid Somerset and held the seat until it was reorganised under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. He was then elected in the 1885 general election as MP for Wells, which he held until the 1895 general election.

Paget was made a Baronet in 1886, and sworn as a Privy Councillor in 1895.

Paget married Caroline Isabel Surtees in 1866. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Richard Paget. His daughter, Dorothy Mary Paget, married the Liberal politician Herbert Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone.

His granddaughter was the scientist Brigid Balfour.