William Paston, 2nd Earl of Yarmouth
1654 births | 1732 deaths | earls in the peerage of england | members of the pre-1707 english parliament | protestant converts to catholicism
William Paston, 2nd Earl of Yarmouth (1654 – 25 December 1732), was a British peer and politician.
Born Lord Paston in 1654, he was the son of Robert Paston, 1st Earl of Yarmouth and his wife, Rebecca née Clayton. In 1671, he married the widowed Charlotte Howard née FitzRoy (1650-1684), the illegitimate daughter of Charles II and Elizabeth Killigrew and they had four surviving children:
- Charles, styled Lord Paston (1673-1718)
- Lady Charlotte (1675-1736), married Thomas Herne.
- Lady Rebecca (1681-1726), married Sir John Holland, 2nd Baronet.
- Hon. William (1682-1711)
From 1678, Paston was Member of Parliament for Norwich until he inherited his father's title in 1683. His wife having died in 1684, he married Elizabeth Wiseman (the widow of Sir Robert Wiseman and daughter of Dudley North, 4th Baron North) the following month and converted to Roman Catholicism soon after. In February 1687, James II appointed him Treasurer of the Household. He reconverted to Anglicanism in 1689, but refused to swear allegiance to William and Mary when they came to the throne that year, subsequently losing all his offices.
Suspected of Jacobite activity, he was imprisoned twice, but took the oath in 1696 and was admitted to the House of Lords. Yarmouth died heavily in debt on 25 December 1732 at Epsom, Surrey, aged seventy-eight. As his sons, his brothers and their male heirs had predeceased him, his titles became extinct.
Sources
- John Miller, Paston, Robert, first earl of Yarmouth (1631–1683), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 26 May 2008
- , accessed 26 May 2008
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Category: 1654 births Category: 1732 deaths Paston, William Paston, Lord Paston, William Paston, Lord Category: Protestant converts to Catholicism
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