Augustus Paget
British civil servant, diplomat and ambassador
Sir Augustus Berkeley Paget GCB (16 April 1823 – 11 July 1896) was a British diplomat. In 1876, Paget was appointed a member of Queen Victoria's privy council.
Biography
Augustus Berkeley Paget was born on 16 April 1823, member of the Paget family, the son of the diplomat Arthur Paget and his wife, Lady Augusta Fane, divorced in 1809 from John Parker, 2nd Baron Borigndon. He was the nephew of General Sir Edward Paget and grandson of Henry Bayly Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge. He was educated at Charterhouse, and in 1840 he entered the service of the crown as clerk in the secretary's department of the general Post Office. He was soon transferred to the Audit Office, and again on 21 August 1841 to the more competitive Foreign Office.
Paget then decided to enter the diplomatic service, and on 2 December 1843, obtained an appointment as temporary attaché at Madrid, where he remained till 1846. On 6 February 1846, he was appointed precis writer to the foreign secretary, Lord Aberdeen, but on 26 June became second paid attaché to the British embassy at Paris. Here he witnessed the French demonstration of 15 May 1848, and the establishment of the second empire; on 18 December 1851 he became first paid attaché. On 12 February 1852, he was promoted to be secretary of legation at Athens at a time when diplomatic relations with Greece were more or less in abeyance, so that his position was peculiar and required much tact.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Augustus Paget” as british civil servant, diplomat and ambassador. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as british civil servant, diplomat and ambassador. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4821383. VIAF identifies the subject as 310508830. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1823, 1896, 1876 and 1809.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Augustus Paget”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Augustus Paget primary sources, Augustus Paget archive and Augustus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Augustus Paget”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Augustus Paget” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.