Hooray Henry

Henry Cyril Paget seemingly had it all. As the eldest son of the 4th Marquess of Anglesey, Henry was heir to his father’s title and vast estates, which provided an income of around £12 million pounds per year in current terms. Born on 16 June 1875, a life of privilege was assured for the young aristocrat.

His great-grandfather was Field Marshall Henry William Paget, hero of the Battle of Waterloo. Famously, on losing one of his legs to a cannonball, he is said to have simply exclaimed “By God, sir, I’ve lost my leg!”, to which his commanding officer, the Duke of Wellington responded in similar vein with “By God, sir, so you have!” Upon completing his education, young Henry followed in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Unlike his heroic ancestor however, military life did not sit well with the youthful nobleman. Indeed, it was to be to an entirely different lifestyle that he found himself drawn.

Married on 20 January 1898 to his cousin Lilian Florence Maud Chetwynd (1876-1962), Henry soon found himself installed as the 5th Marquess of Anglesey, following the death of his father on 13 October of the same year. Espoused, titled and wealthy, his future could not have seemed rosier. However, all was not quite as it seemed.

The marriage, it transpired, was never consummated, and as a consequence was annulled after three years. Henry meanwhile had begun to enjoy a lavish and eccentric lifestyle. He began to spend his newly acquired fortune on jewellery and furs, as well as hosting lavish parties and staging elaborate theatrical performances. He even converted the chapel on the family estate into a 150 seat theatre, which he named the Gaiety Theatre. Dressed in extravagant and expensive costumes, the Marquess always took the lead role, irrespective of his suitability for the part. Productions included among others: Aladdin, Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, Shakespeare’s Henry V, as well as variety performances of sketches and song and dance routines. Quite an eclectic mix!

He poached actors from London theatres by offering them inflated salaries, and eventually took his theatre company on a three year tour of Britain and mainland Europe. Perhaps most astonishing of all however, was his “Butterfly Dance”, which he performed during intermissions. Described as sinuous, sexy and snake-like, he would wave a robe of transparent white silk around like butterfly wings as he danced.

This flamboyant lifestyle, together with the breakdown of his marriage led many to speculate that the Marquess was homosexual. A contemporary journalist wrote “Bearing the form of a man, he yet had all the tastes, something even of the appearance, of not only a woman, but, if the phrase be permissible, a very effeminate woman.” There is however, no evidence of Henry having any sexual relationships with either men or women, leading historian Viv Gardner to conclude that he was “a classic narcissist: the only person he could love…was himself.” The lack of evidence may however be due to the fact that, after his death, his family destroyed all his papers and personal effects, in an attempt to expunge the 5th Marquess from history. Thus the true nature of his sexuality is not positively known.

On the other hand, his extravagant way of life was all too well documented. In the six years since inheriting his title, his outgoings massively exceeded his considerable income, to such an extent that in June 1904 he was obliged to file for bankruptcy, owing creditors a sum that in today’s terms would equate to around £250 million. The estate was remortgaged and an auction arranged to sell off belongings, in an effort to repay some of his creditors. Among the items up for auction were jewellery, cars, boats, animals and the world’s largest collection of walking sticks. Much of his clothing was also put up for sale and included hundreds of silk dressing gowns and hundreds of pairs of shoes. In total there were an astonishing 17,000 lots and the auction took 40 days to complete. Fortunately for those to whom he was indebted, most got their money back.

Benevolently, his creditors opted not to leave him destitute, and awarded him the sum of £3,000 per annum – around £150,000 in today’s terms – for the remainder of his life. Sadly however, that was not to be long. Following his bankruptcy he moved to France, where he contracted tuberculosis. Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey passed away on 14 March 1905 in the appropriately luxurious surroundings of the Hotel Royale in Monte Carlo at the age of just 29 years. Touchingly, Lilian, his ex-wife, was with him when he died.

Lilian went on to marry a banker in 1909, with whom she subsequently had three children. The title and estate were inherited by his cousin, Charles Paget, who had strongly disapproved of his predecessor’s lavish lifestyle, and was no doubt miffed that his inheritance had been frittered away. Henry’s Gaiety Theatre was reconverted back to a chapel.

Sources:

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/5th-marquess-anglesey-life-history-14012663

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Paget,_5th_Marquess_of_Anglesey