William Paget, 4th Baron Paget

Who was William Paget, 4th Baron Paget?

William Paget, 4th Baron Paget of Beaudesert was an English peer and colonist born in Beaudesert House, Staffordshire, England to Thomas Paget, 3rd Baron Paget and Nazareth Newton. He was a descendent of William Paget, 1st Baron Paget. William's father had been stripped of his title after fleeing to Spain, as a result of his Catholicism. England had recently become a Protestant state when Henry VIII had separated the Church of England and placed himself at its head. Europe was ablaze with conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. England's old enemy, France, was in the midst of its Religious Wars, which saw the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in the year in which William was born.