Lord George Paulet

Lord George Paulet
Lord George Paulet
Born	(1803-08-12)12 August 1803
Died	22 November 1879(1879-11-22) (aged 76)
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1817–1867
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	HMS Nautilus HMS Carysfort HMS Bellerophon
Battles/wars	Crimean War
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath Officier of the Légion d'honneur Medjidie of the Third Class
Relations	Henry Paulet (uncle)

Admiral Lord George Paulet CB (12 August 1803 – 22 November 1879) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

He entered the navy shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and after some years obtained his own command. He served off the Iberian Peninsula during the Portuguese Liberal Wars and the Spanish First Carlist War, protecting British interests and property. While serving on the Pacific Station he obtained a brief measure of infamy when he occupied the Hawaiian Islands for five months in 1843, in an incident known as the Paulet Affair. The occupation was later reversed by his commanding officer. Paulet went on to serve during the Crimean War, commanding a ship during the heavy fighting around the Siege of Sevastopol in 1854. He received a number of awards after the war, and was promoted through the ranks, until his death in 1879 at the rank of full admiral.

George Paulet was born on 12 August 1803, the third son of Charles Ingoldsby Paulet, 13th Marquess of Winchester, and his wife, Anne Andrews. He joined the Royal Navy on 6 February 1817 and after several years of service was commissioned a lieutenant on 9 February 1825. He was promoted to commander on 28 February 1828, and was given command of HMS Nautilus in March 1830. He was assigned to the Lisbon station, where he spent the rest of the Portuguese Civil War, based in and off the Douro and Tagus rivers.Nautilus was later moved to the northern Spanish coast after the outbreak of the First Carlist War. During her time in Portugal Nautilus was visited by Sir Charles Shaw, who remarked on the great respect that the Spanish had for Paulet, and also commented on how his men were 'so comfortably clad, so well fed, so respectful, and so attached to their officers.' Paulet was promoted to post-captain on 18 November 1833. He went to Bilbao on 17 December to render assistance and protect British property, but bad weather delayed his entry to the port. From Bilbao he proceeded to London to deliver despatches, after which he sailed to Portsmouth to pay off Nautilus, on which occasion he gave his officers 'a sumptuous entertainment'.