The Paget Papers arrive at Bangor University

The Archives and Special Collections at Bangor University have recently received a new collection from Plas Newydd, Anglesey via the current 8^th Marquis of Anglesey, Alexander Paget. The collection is divided into 6 series which uncovers the lives of six members of the Paget family during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, namely:

1. Almeric Hugh Paget, Baron of Queensborough (1861-1949)
2. Henry Cyril Paget, 5^th Marquis of Anglesey (1875-1905)
3. Charles Henry Alexander, 6^th Marquis of Anglesey (1885-1946)
4. Marjorie, Lady Anglesey (1883-1946)
5. Lady Caroline Duff (1913-1976)

The sixth series of papers relating to George Charles Henry Victor, 7^th Marquis of Anglesey (1922-2013) will remain at Plas Newydd for the foreseeable future.

The extensive collection of 69 large boxes, which consists of photo albums, scrapbooks, journals, correspondence, newspaper cuttings, as well as financial and administrative documents, will join other estate records from Plas Newydd, held at the Archives, which have been deposited with the University over a period of 5 decades.

The Paget Papers were catalogued in 1983-1984 by a team under the auspices of the Manpower Services Commission, and have been housed at Plas Newydd until this year. In order to manage such a large accrual, Bangor University Archives and Special Collections have had to secure funding from the University’s “Bangor Fund” to purchase new mobile shelving and has enlisted the help of an undergraduate via an internship, arranged jointly with the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (ISWE).

Laura Patari looking at 2 highly decorative Gaiety Theatre programmes

New mobile shelving courtesy of “The Bangor Fund”, Bangor University

Initial examination of the Paget Papers has revealed new and interesting information which will provide research opportunities for Bangor University students and external readers alike. The Paget Papers tell us about the personalities involved with the Plas Newydd estate – a rare insight into the lives of family members. For example, there are bundles of invoices and receipts which provide testimony to the excessive spending habits of the 5^th Marquis of Anglesey, founder of the Gaiety Theatre at Plas Newydd; and later documents consist of letters from the artist Rex Whistler to Lady Caroline Duff, actress and socialite, on aspects of the artist’s ties with Plas Newydd.

The Paget Papers catalogue can be accessed online by clicking this link.

This blog was written by Laura Patari, an undergraduate intern at the Archives and Special Collections Department of Bangor University. She is a third-year English Language and Literature student from Finland and has been assisting the Archivist in the transfer of the Paget Papers from Plas Newydd, as well as primarily managing the repackaging of the collection, carrying out simple conservation tasks, numbering documents and data inputting the catalogue onto the CALM database.