Marquess of Winchester, Peerage of England 1551

Nigel George Paulet 18th Marquess of Winchester, Earl of Wiltshire, and Baron St. John of Basing, Premier Marquess of England.

Arms: Sable, three swords in pile points in base argent, pommels and hilts or.

Crest: A falcon, wings displayed or, belled of the same, and gorged with a ducal coronet gules.

Supporters: Two hinds purpure, semee of estoiles and ducally gorged or.

Sir William Paulet, KG 1st Marquess of Winchester, who, enjoying the confidence of King Henry VIII, was elevated to the Peerage in 1539 as Baron St. John of Basing. Upon the death of Henry VIII, Lord St. John was appointed as one of the King's executors to his will. Lord St. John continued as a political character and was created Earl of Wiltshire in 1550, and Marquess of Winchester in 1551. He was installed as a Knight of the Garter, and held the important office of Lord Treasurer of England during the reigns of Edward VI, and of Mary I and Elizabeth I. When asked how he was able to hold such an office through so long a series of years, his Lordship replied, "By being a willow, not an oak."

John, 5th Marquess of Winchester, at the commencement of the civil wars, held Basing for King Charles I but the house, after a protracted siege, fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians and was burnt to the ground while the Marquess's property (to the amount of £200,000) was destroyed. An interesting note, at least in regards to this web page, the 5th Marquess's 3rd wife was Isabel was the daughter of William Howard, Viscount Stafford.

John's son, Charles was created Duke of Bolton in 1689. Upon the 1st Duke's death, in 1699, it was said, "This year died the Marquess of Winchester, whom the King had created Duke of Bolton. He was a man of a strange mixture. He had the spleen to an high degree, and affected to an extravagant behaviour; for many weeks he would not open his mouth till such an hour of the day when he thought the air was pure. He changed the day into night, and often hunted by torchlight, and took all sorts of liberties to himself, many of which were disagreeable to those about him. He was a man of profuse expense, and of almost ravenous avarice to support that; and though he was much hated, yet he carried matters before him with such authority and success, that he was in all respects the great riddle of the age."

The Dukedom of Bolton continued for a total of six generations, until the death of His Grace, the 6th Duke of Bolton on December 24, 1794. The 6th Duke had no male heir and the Dukedom became extinct, while the Marquessate of Winchester and the minor honours devolved upon his kinsman. The Marquessate continues today with the 18th Marquess of Winchester.

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