Almeric Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Almeric Hugh Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough, GBE (14 March 1861–22 September 1949) was born into a noble family, but left school with only £5 to his name.[1] He became a cowboy, self-made industrialist, award-winning yachtsman, British peer and Conservative Party politician, founder of the Military Massage Service and the Cambridgeshire Battalion of The Suffolk Regiment, and treasurer of the League of Nations Union.

Contents

[edit] Family

Paget was the youngest son of Lord Alfred Paget (the fifth son of the 1st Marquess of Anglesey) and was educated at Harrow and Cambridge. On 12 November 1895, he married the American heiress, Pauline Whitney and they had two daughters: Olive Cecilia (1899-1974, married three times and later the owner of Leeds Castle) and Dorothy Wyndham (1905-1960, died unmarried).

[edit] Early career & election to Parliament

After leaving Harrow with almost no money in 1879, Paget briefly worked for the Midland Railway in Derby. In 1881, he became a cattle rancher in Le Mars, Iowa, where he became friends with Theodore Roosevelt.[2] He later settled in Saint Paul, Minnesota where he became a real estate salesman. He subsequently moved to New York City, living in what is now the Lubin House, Syracuse University's alumni centre.[3] Whilst in New York Paget became a founder member of the Dominion Iron and Steel Company.[4] In 1901 he returned to England, citing his wife's poor health as the reason.[2] The family initially settled in Brandon Park House, Suffolk,[5] later moving to Hatfield.

Paget was a highly successful yachtsman, winning the first prize in the open handicap race from Cannes to Monte Carlo in 1902, and winning the Czar's prize at Cowes Week in 1909. On his return to England from the US, he was appointed Rear-Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club.[4] The Belvidere Cup was named by Paget in 1913, in honour of a boat owned by his father which had competed for the cup the first time it was contested in 1845.[6]

In 1906, Paget contested the Cambridge constituency, losing to Stanley Buckmaster. In January 1910 he narrowly won the seat by a majority of 687, holding the seat until his resignation in 1917.

[edit] World War I

Uniform of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps, 1916
Uniform of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps, 1916

In August 1914 Paget founded the Almeric Paget Massage Corps (renamed the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps in December 1916, and the Military Massage Service in 1919).[7] Initially 50 masseuses were recruited, rapidly rising to over 100.[7]

In November 1914 Paget founded the Massage and Electrical Outpatient Clinic, in premises at 55 Portland Place, London, loaned by Lady Alexander Paget. For the duration of World War I the clinic treated an average of 200 wounded officers and soldiers per day.[7]

In addition to the Massage Corps, following the outbreak of war Paget sponsored the formation of a Cambridgeshire Battalion formed of volunteers. Comprising approximately 1350 volunteers, the Battalion formed part of The Suffolk Regiment and was popularly known as the Cambs Suffolks.[8] The Battalion was initially posted within the UK, transferring to France in 1916; 970 members died during World War I including 190 on the First day on the Somme.[9]

[edit] Ennoblement and later career

In 1918, Paget was created Baron Queenborough, of Queenborough, County Kent. On 19 July 1921, he married conspiracy theorist and anti-Mormon agitator Edith Starr Miller, author of Common Sense in the Kitchen and Occult Theocrasy[2] and they had three daughters: Hon. Audrey Elizabeth (1922-1991, aviatrix), Hon. Enid Louise (b. 1923) and Hon. Cicilie Carol (b. 1928). In 1920 he was appointed Treasurer of the League of Nations Union, an office he held for sixteen years.[10] He resigned in 1936 in protest at the League's recognition and admission of the Soviet Union.[1]

Paget was made a GBE in 1926.

Lord Queenborough served as President of the Chihuahua and Pacific Railroad, Chairman of Caxton Electrical and Chairman of Siemens Bros & Co. He was also Governor of Guy's Hospital, President of Miller General Hospital at Greenwich, member of the Council of the Zoological Society of London and President of the Royal Society of St George.[11]

In later years he was a keen supporter of Francisco Franco[10] and Adolf Hitler[2][12] and a fanatical anti-Bolshevik campaigner; in a 1935 article he described a perceived plot between the Freemasons and the Communists to take over Europe.[13] Despite his fascist sympathies he was appointed President of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations between 1928-29 and again in 1940-41.[14]

Lord Queenborough died in 1949 and without male heirs, his title became extinct.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b “Former Cowpuncher Who Came to US With £5 in Youth and Made a Fortune Dies”, New York Times, 1949-09-23 
  2. ^ a b c d Edith Starr Miller. Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (1871-2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  3. ^ Lubin House History. Suracuse University. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  4. ^ a b Almeric Hugh Paget. The Whitney Research Group (1999). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  5. ^ (1999) Tree & History Trail, Brandon Park. Ipswich: Suffolk County Council. 
  6. ^ History of the Belvidere Cup. Royal Thames Yacht Club (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  7. ^ a b c Focus on Women in Uniform: The Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps. Family Records Service (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  8. ^ Curme, Phil (2007-08-10). The Cambs Suffolks: The Early Days. Walking the Battlefields. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  9. ^ Curme, Phil (2007-08-10). The 11th Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Walking the Battlefields. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  10. ^ a b Sencourt, Robert (1949). Heirs of Tradition: Tributes of a New Zealander. London: Caroll & Nicholson, 307. 
  11. ^ Pine, Leslie Gilbert (1972). The new extinct peerage, 1884-1971: containing extinct, abeyant, dormant & suspended peerages with genealogies and arms. London: Heraldry Today. 
  12. ^ "It has been wisely said that, upon examination, few things prove wholly bad, and in view of the vital and urgent need for a better understanding between ourselves and Germany this work, which reveals so much that is sound and constructive and worthy of praise, should serve as a timely and excellent antidote to the over numerous publications designed solely to vilify and distort and denigrate the policy and achievements of the remarkable man who, after fifteen years of bitter struggle, became the leader of eighty millions of Germans." Paget, Almeric H, Lord Queenborough (1939). This is Germany. London: Seely Service & Co Ltd, 288. 
  13. ^ Paget, Almeric H, Lord Queenborough (1935-08). "World Plan in Action". English Review. 
  14. ^ Sir Almeric Hugh Paget, 1st and last Baron Queenborough. ThePeerage.com (2004-06-04). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Stanley Buckmaster		 Member for Cambridge
Jan. 1910–1917		 Succeeded by
Sir Eric Geddes
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New creation		 Baron Queenborough
1918–1949		 Succeeded by
Title extinct