ord George Augustus Frederick Paget was born on 16 March 1818. He was the
sixth son of Henry William Paget, first Marquis of Anglesey. Paget was educated
at Westminster School; on 25 July 1834 he was given a commission as a Cornet
in the First Lifeguards. On 1 December 1837 he was promoted to Lieutenant. On
17 August 1840 he purchased an unattached company, and exchanged to a troop
in the 4th Light Dragoons; he became a Major on 30 January 1846 and then Lieutenant-Colonel
on 29 December.
Paget married his cousin Agnes Charlotte Paget on 27 February 1854 and they had two children. She died 10 March 1858. On 20 June 1854, Paget went out to the Crimea as a Brevet Colonel in command of the 4th Light Dragoons. He fought at the Battles of the Alma and Balaklava; he was next senior officer of the Light Cavalry brigade to Lord Cardigan. Paget's regiment at first formed the third line at the Charge of the Light Brigade where he gave Cardigan ‘his best support' as requested. Paget was one of the last to leave the scene. He commanded the remains of the Light Brigade at Inkerman then went home on the death of his father with the intention of retiring from the army. His return to England led to a great deal of criticism in the newspapers.
Paget went back to the Crimea on 23 February 1855 and was reappointed to the command of the Light Brigade. He was in temporary command of the cavalry division during the absence of Sir James Yorke Scarlett who succeeded Lord Lucan as commander of the troops. Paget was present at Lord Raglan's death and then went on to command the Light Cavalry brigade at Eupatoria, in the operations under General d'Allonville and until a month before the evacuation of the Crimea.
On 6 February 1861 Paget married Louisa Heneage; she survived him and married the Earl of Essex in 1881. Paget was promoted to Major-General on 11 November 1861, and went on to command the Sirhind division of the Bengal army between 1862 and 1865, when he returned to England and became Inspector-General of Cavalry. He was awarded the K.C.B. in 1871. Paget represented Beaumaris in the whig interest from 1847 to 1857. He died very unexpectedly at his residence in Farm Street, Mayfair, London, 30 June 1880.
Paget's Crimean Journals were printed for private circulation in 1875 after which he revised them, and they were published by his son in 1881.
Last modified 30 May 2002