Volume 2, Part 1 Part 6 (1/2)

The unfavourable character drawn of him by Burnet is certainly unjust and not supported by any evidence. Pepys, a far more trustworthy judge, speaks of him invariably in terms of respect and approval as a ”grave, serious man,” and commends his appointment as treasurer of the navy as that of ”a very notable man and understanding and will do things regular and understand them himself.”[6] He was a learned and cultivated man and collected a celebrated library, which was dispersed at his death. Besides the pamphlets already mentioned, he wrote:--_A True Account of the Whole Proceedings betwixt ... the Duke of Ormond and ... the Earl of Anglesey_ (1682); _A Letter of Remarks upon Jovian_ (1683); other works ascribed to him being _The King's Right of Indulgence in Matters Spiritual ... a.s.serted_ (1688); _Truth Unveiled, to which is added a short Treatise on ... Transubstantiation_ (1676); _The Obligation resulting from the Oath of Supremacy_ (1688); and _England's Confusion_ (1659). _Memoirs_ of Lord Anglesey were published by Sir P. Pett in 1693, but contain little biographical information and were repudiated as a mere imposture by Sir John Thompson (Lord Haversham), his son-in-law, in his preface to Lord Anglesey's _State of the Government_ in 1694. The author however of the preface to _The Rights of the Lords a.s.serted_ (1702), while blaming their publication as ”scattered and unfinished papers,” admits their genuineness.

Lord Anglesey married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir James Altham of Oxey, Hertfords.h.i.+re, by whom, besides other children, he had James, who succeeded him, Altham, created Baron Altham, and Richard, afterwards 3rd Baron Altham. His descendant Richard, the 6th earl (d. 1761), left a son Arthur, whose legitimacy was doubted, and the peerage became extinct. He was summoned to the Irish House of Peers as Viscount Valentia, but was denied his writ to the parliament of Great Britain by a majority of one vote. He was created in 1793 earl of Mountnorris in the peerage of Ireland. All the male descendants of the 1st earl of Anglesey became extinct in the person of George, 2nd earl of Mountnorris, in 1844, when the t.i.tles of Viscount Valentia and Baron Mountnorris pa.s.sed to his cousin Arthur Annesley (1785-1863), who thus became 10th Viscount Valentia, being descended from the 1st Viscount Valentia the father of the 1st earl of Anglesey in the Annesley family. The 1st viscount was also the ancestor of the Earls Annesley in the Irish peerage.

[Footnote 1: _Protests of the Lords_, by J.E. Thorold Rogers (1875), i. 27: Carti's _Life of Ormonde_ (1851), iv. 234; _Parl. Hist._ iv.

284.]

[Footnote 2: Carti's _Ormonde_, iv. 330, 340.]

[Footnote 3: _Cal. of State Pap. Dom._ (1673-1675), p. 152.]

[Footnote 4: _Memoirs_, 8, 9.]

[Footnote 5: By Sir J. Thompson, his son-in-law. Reprinted in _Somers Tracts_ (Scott, 1812), viii. 344, and in _Parl. Hist._ iv. app. xvi.]

[Footnote 6: _Diary_ (ed. Wheatley, 1904), iv. 298, vii. 14.]

AUTHORITIES.--_Dict. of Nat. Biography_, with authorities there collected; lives in Wood's _Athenae Oxonienses_ (Bliss), iv. 181, _Biographia Britannica_, and H. Walpole's _Royal and n.o.ble Authors_ (1806), iii. 288 (the latter a very inadequate review of Anglesey's character and career); also _Bibliotheca Anglesiana_ ... per Thomam Philippum (1686); _The Happy Future State of England_, by Sir Peter Pett (1688); _Great News from Poland_ (1683), where his religious tolerance is ridiculed; _Somers Tracts_ (Scott, 1812), viii. 344; _Notes of the Privy Council_ (Roxburghe Club, 1896); _Cal. of State Papers, Dom._; _State Trials_, viii. and ix. 619.

(P.C.Y.)

ANGLESEY, HENRY WILLIAM PAGET, 1st MARQUESS OF (1768-1854), British field-marshal, was born on the 17th of May 1768. He was the eldest son of Henry Paget, 1st earl of Uxbridge (d. 1812), and was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, afterwards entering parliament in 1790 as member for Carnarvon, for which he sat for six years. At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary wars Lord Paget (as he was then styled), who had already served in the militia, raised on his father's estate the regiment of Staffords.h.i.+re volunteers, in which he was given the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel (1793). The corps soon became part of the regular army as the 80th Foot, and it took part, under Lord Paget's command, in the Flanders campaign of 1794. In spite of his youth he held a brigade command for a time, and gained also, during the campaign, his first experience of the cavalry arm, with which he was thenceforward a.s.sociated. His substantive commission as lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Light Dragoons bore the date of the 15th of June 1795, and in 1796 he was made a colonel in the army. In 1795 he married Lady Caroline Elizabeth Villiers, daughter of the earl of Jersey. In April 1797 Lord Paget was transferred to a lieut.-colonelcy in the 7th Light Dragoons, of which regiment he became colonel in 1801. From the first he applied himself strenuously to the improvement of discipline, and to the perfection of a new system of cavalry evolutions. In the short campaign of 1799 in Holland, Paget commanded the cavalry brigade, and in spite of the unsuitable character of the ground, he made, on several occasions, brilliant and successful charges. After the return of the expedition, he devoted himself zealously to his regiment, which under his command became one of the best corps in the service. In 1802 he was promoted major-general, and six years later lieutenant-general. In command of the cavalry of Sir John Moore's army during the Corunna campaign, Lord Paget won the greatest distinction. At Sahagun, Mayorga and Benavente, the British cavalry behaved so well under his leaders.h.i.+p that Moore wrote:--”It is impossible for me to say too much in its praise.... Our cavalry is very superior in quality to any the French have, and the right spirit has been infused into them by the example and instruction of their ... leaders....” At Benavente one of Napoleon's best cavalry leaders, General Lefebvre Desnoettes, was taken prisoner. Corunna was Paget's last service in the Peninsula. His _liaison_ with the wife of Henry Wellesley, afterwards Lord Cowley, made it impossible at that time for him to serve with Wellington, whose cavalry, on many occasions during the succeeding campaigns, felt the want of the true cavalry leader to direct them. His only war service from 1809 to 1815 was in the disastrous Walcheren expedition (1809) in which he commanded a division. During these years he occupied himself with his parliamentary duties as member for Milborne Port, which he represented almost continuously up to his father's death in 1812, when he took his seat in the House of Lords as earl of Uxbridge. In 1810 he was divorced and married Mrs Wellesley, who had about the same time been divorced from her husband. Lady Paget was soon afterwards married to the duke of Argyll. In 1815 Lord Uxbridge received command of the British cavalry in Flanders. At a moment of danger such as that of Napoleon's return from Elba, the services of the best cavalry general in the British army could not be neglected. Wellington placed the greatest confidence in him, and on the eve of Waterloo extended his command so as to include the whole of the allied cavalry and horse artillery. He covered the retirement of the allies from Quatre Bras to Waterloo on the 17th of June, and on the 18th gained the crowning distinction of his military career in leading the great cavalry charge of the British centre, which checked and in part routed D'Erlon's _corps d'armee_ (see WATERLOO CAMPAIGN). Freely exposing his own life throughout, the earl received, by one of the last cannon shots fired, a severe wound in the leg, necessitating amputation. Five days later the prince regent created him marquess of Anglesey in recognition of his brilliant services, which were regarded universally as second only to those of the duke himself. He was made a G.C.B. and he was also decorated by many of the allied sovereigns.

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In 1818 the marquess was made a knight of the Garter, in 1819 he became full general, and at the coronation of George IV. he acted as lord high steward of England. His support of the proceedings against Queen Caroline made him for a time unpopular, and when he was on one occasion beset by a crowd, who compelled him to shout ”The Queen,”

he added the wish, ”May all your wives be like her.” At the close of April 1827 he became a member of the Canning administration, taking the post of master-general of the ordnance, previously held by Wellington. He was at the same time sworn a member of the privy council. Under the Wellington administration he accepted the appointment of lord-lieutenant of Ireland (March 1828), and in the discharge of his important duties he greatly endeared himself to the Irish people. The spirit in which he acted and the aims which he steadily set before himself contributed to the allaying of party animosities, to the promotion of a willing submission to the laws, to the prosperity of trade and to the extension and improvement of education. On the great question of the time his views were opposed to those of the government. He saw clearly that the time was come when the relief of the Catholics from the penal legislation of the past was an indispensable measure, and in December 1828 he addressed a letter to the Roman Catholic primate of Ireland distinctly announcing his view. This led to his recall by the government, a step sincerely lamented by the Irish. He pleaded for Catholic emanc.i.p.ation in parliament, and on the formation of Earl Grey's administration in November 1830, he again became lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The times were changed; the act of emanc.i.p.ation had been pa.s.sed, and the task of viceroy in his second tenure of office was to resist the agitation for repeal of the union carried on by O'Connell. He felt it his duty now to demand Coercion Acts for the security of the public peace; his popularity was diminished, differences appeared in the cabinet on the difficult subject, and in July 1833 the ministry resigned. To the marquess of Anglesey Ireland is indebted for the board of education, the origination of which may perhaps be reckoned as the most memorable act of his viceroyalty. For thirteen years after his retirement he remained out of office, and took little part in the affairs of government. He joined the Russell administration in July 1846 as master-general of the ordnance, finally retiring with his chief in March 1852. His promotion in the army was completed by his advancement to the rank of field-marshal in 1846. Four years before, he exchanged his colonelcy of the 7th Light Dragoons which he had held over forty years, for that of the Royal Horse Guards. He died on the 29th of April 1854.

The marquess had a large family by each of his two wives, two sons and six daughters by the first and six sons and four daughters by the second. His eldest son, Henry, succeeded him in the marquessate; but the t.i.tle pa.s.sed rapidly in succession to the 3rd, 4th and 5th marquesses. The latter, whose extravagances were notorious, died in 1905, when the t.i.tle pa.s.sed to his cousin.

Other members of the Paget family distinguished themselves in the army and the navy. Of the first marquess's brothers one, SIR CHARLES PAGET (1778-1839), rose to the rank of vice-admiral in the Royal Navy; another, General SIR EDWARD PAGET (1775-1849), won great distinction by his skilful and resolute handling of a division at Corunna, and from 1822 to 1825 was commander-in-chief in India. One of the marquess's sons by his second marriage, LORD CLARENCE EDWARD PAGET (1811-1895), became an admiral; another, LORD GEORGE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK PAGET (1818-1880), led the 4th Light Dragoons in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, and subsequently commanded the brigade, and, for a short time, the cavalry division in the Crimea.

In 1865 he was made inspector-general of cavalry, in 1871 lieutenant-general and K.C.B., and in 1877 full general. His Crimean journals were published in 1881.

ANGLESEY, or ANGLESEA, an insular northern county of Wales. Its area is 176,630 acres or about 276 sq. m. Anglesey, in the see of Bangor, is separated from the mainland by the Menai Straits (Afon Menai), over which were thrown Telford's suspension bridge, in 1826, and the Stephenson tubular railway bridge in 1850. The county is flat, with slight risings such as Parys, Cadair Mynachdy (or Monachdy, _i.e._.

”chair of the monastery”; there is a Nanner, ”convent,” not far away) and Holyhead Mountain. There are a few lakes, such as Cors cerrig y daran, but rising water is generally scarce. The climate is humid, the land poor for the most part compared with its old state of fertility, and there are few industries.

As regards geology, the younger strata in Anglesey rest upon a foundation of very old pre-Cambrian rocks which appear at the surface in three areas:--(1) a western region including Holyhead and Llanfaethlu, (2) a central area about Aberffraw and Trefdraeth, and (3) an eastern region which includes Newborough, Caerwen and Pentraeth. These pre-Cambrian rocks are schists and slates, often much contorted and disturbed. The general line of strike of the formations in the island is from N.E. to S.W. A belt of granitic rocks lies immediately north-west of the central pre-Cambrian ma.s.s, reaching from Llanfaelog near the coast to the vicinity of Llanerchymedd. Between this granite and the pre-Cambrian of Holyhead is a narrow tract of Ordovician slates and grits with Llandovery beds in places; this tract spreads out in the N. of the island between Dulas Bay and Carmel Point. A small patch of Ordovician strata lies on the northern side of Beaumaris. In parts, these Ordovician rocks are much folded, crushed and metamorphosed, and they are a.s.sociated with schists and altered volcanic rocks which are probably pre-Cambrian. Between the eastern and central pre-Cambrian ma.s.ses carboniferous rocks are found. The carboniferous limestone occupies a broad area S. of Ligwy Bay and Pentraeth, and sends a narrow spur in a south-westerly direction by Llangefni to Malldraeth sands. The limestone is underlain on the N.W. by a red bas.e.m.e.nt conglomerate and yellow sandstone (sometimes considered to be of Old Red Sandstone age). Limestone occurs again on the N. coast about Llanfihangel and Llangoed; and in the S.W. round Llanidan on the border of the Menai Strait. Puffin Island is made of carboniferous limestone. Malldraeth Marsh is occupied by coal measures, and a small patch of the same formation appears near Tall-y-foel Ferry on the Menai Straits. A patch of granitic and felsitic rocks form Parys Mountain, where copper and iron ochre have been worked. Serpentine (Mona Marble) is found near Llanfaerynneubwll and upon the opposite sh.o.r.e in Holyhead. There are abundant evidences of glaciation, and much boulder clay and drift sand covers the older rocks. Patches of blown sand occur on the S.W. coast.

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The London & North-Western railway (Chester and Holyhead branch) crosses Anglesey from Llanfairpwllgwyngyll to Gaerwen and Holyhead (Caer Gybi), also from Gaerwen to Amlwch. The staple of the island is farming, the chief crops being turnips, oats, potatoes, with flax in the centre. Copper (near Amlwch), lead, silver, marble, asbestos, lime and sandstone, marl, zinc and coal have all been worked in Anglesey, coal especially at Malldraeth and Trefdraeth. The population of the county in 1901 was 50,606. There is no parliamentary borough, but one member is returned for the county. It is in the north-western circuit, and a.s.sizes are held at Beaumaris, the only munic.i.p.al borough (pop.

2326). Amlwch (2994), Holyhead (10,079), Llangefni (1751) and Menai Bridge (Pont y Borth, 1700) are urban districts. There are six hundreds and seventy-eight parishes.

Mon (a cow) is the Welsh name of Anglesey, itself a corrupted form of O.E., meaning the Isle of the Angles. Old Welsh names are Ynys Dywyll (”Dark Isle”) and Ynys y cedairn (cedyrn or kedyrn; ”Isle of brave folk”). It is the Mona of Tacitus (_Ann._ xiv. 29, _Agr._ xiv. 18), Pliny the Elder (iv. 16) and Dio Ca.s.sius (62). It is called Mam Cymru by Giraldus Cambrensis. Clas Merddin, Y vel Ynys (honey isle), Ynys Prydein, Ynys Brut are other names. According to the Triads (67), Anglesey was once part of the mainland, as geology proves. The island was the seat of the Druids, of whom 28 cromlechs remain, on uplands overlooking the sea, _e.g._ at Plas Newydd. The Druids were attacked in A.D. 61 by Suetonius Paulinus, and by Agricola in A.D. 78. In the 5th century Caswallon lived here, and here, at Aberffraw, the princes of Gwynedd lived till 1277. The present road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll is originally Roman. British and Roman camps, coins and ornaments have been dug up and discussed, especially by the Hon. Mr. Stanley of Penrhos. Pen Caer Gybi is Roman. The island was devastated by the Danes (_Dub Gint_ or black nations, _gentes_), especially in A.D. 853.

See Edw. Breese, _Kalendar of Gwynedd_ (Venedocia), on Anglesey, Carnarvon and Merioneth (London, 1873); and _The History of Powys Fadog_.