Reginald Paget, Baron Paget of Northampton

Reginald Thomas Guy Des Voeux Paget, Baron Paget of Northampton, QC (2 September 1908 – 2 January 1990), also known as Reginald Guy Thomas Du Voeux Paget, was a British lawyer and Labour politician.

The son of Major Guy Paget, he studied law at Cambridge university, and stood for election as a Labour party candidate for Northampton in 1935, but did not win. During World War II he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (1940–43). After the war he was advocate for Field Marshal Erich von Manstein in his trial for war crimes. He later wrote Manstein: His Campaigns and His Trial (1957).^[1]

He stood again as the Labour candidate for Northampton in 1945, and won. He was repeatedly reelected until 1974, when the constituency was abolished.^[1]

During his tenure as an MP he was an independent voice, playing a major role in the campaign to abolish capital punishment. He was a strong opponent of the execution of Derek Bentley, and argued for Timothy Evans to be posthumously pardoned for the murder of his child (a crime widely believed to have been committed by John Christie). He became Secretary of the UK Council of the European Movement in 1954.^[1]

Paget was a Queen's Counsel. On 2 January 1975, he was created a life peer as Baron Paget of Northampton, of Lubenham in the County of Leicestershire.^[1][2]

In 1931, he married Sybil Helen Gibbons (Nancy), daughter of Sills Clifford Gibbons. They occupied Lubenham Lodge 2 miles west of Market Harborough from 1964.

References

1. A. Thomas Lane, Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders. Volume: 2, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT., 1995, p.724.
2. The London Gazette: no. 46458. p. 229. 7 January 1975.

External links

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Reginald Paget