tIt tookwo
Clare McComb pays tribute to two outstanding yachtsmen whose influence will still be felt 100 years later in this year’s two major yacht club anniversaries
With the centenary of the RORC and the 250th of the Royal Thames now upon us, it is appropriate to ask the question: why have they lasted so long? Of all the expla- nations that can be given, leadership remains possibly the most crucial element. In 1925 both organisations were led by dynamic men, who forged and forced their progress through the years that followed, until a world war once again thoroughly reduced the influence single individuals could bring to bear on such projects. For the Thames their man was Almeric
Paget, raised to the peerage as Lord Queen- borough, early in 1918. His was a velvet rags-to-riches story, for he had been born in 1861, sixth son of the Marquess of Anglesey, but after education at Harrow it was made clear to him that he would have to make his own way in the world. And being bottom of the pecking order, his noble birth came without any funds to
54 SEAHORSE
make a wealthy lifestyle possible. He went straight to the Midland Rail-
way works at Derby, to study engineering for three years. Following this it seems he was dispatched to America with £5 in his pocket – some versions say £25 – with orders to make his own fortune, which he proceeded to do. Slow and steady at first, his rise soon
became meteoric. After several years as a ‘cowpuncher and farm hand’ in the North East Provinces, where his skill and determi- nation clearly impressed the ranch owners, he established his own cattle ranch in Iowa where he became acquainted with Theodore Roosevelt (POTUS 1901-1909). Subsequently Paget moved to Min-
nesota where he built up a substantial for- tune over the next decade, proving a sharp businessman. He eventually arrived in New York, as an ‘impossibly romantic figure’ – a wild west cowboy, a self-made rich man but also the son of a lord, with all the manners and breeding of the English nobility; the combination proved utterly irresistible to the ‘golden girls’ of the fash- ionable set who ‘all set their caps at him’. In 1895 he duly married society heiress
Miss Pauline Houston, arguably the pick of the bunch, daughter of a former Chief of the US Navy department, who was also one of the most prominent financiers of the capital city. Pauline’s mother was also closely connected with the Standard Oil millions, which proved no hindrance either. Almeric’s financial future had been secured for life. In 1901 Paget and his young wife came
to England where they became famous for their elegant parties, the beating heart of
the London season. Following sojourns at Claridge’s, a series of magnificent London properties was rented to showcase these extravagant social events, and extended periods spent at Cannes and other fashion- able European destinations. Almeric was elected MP for Cambridge
in 1910, at the second attempt, presenting himself as someone who understood the needs and desires of the ‘working man’, having once been one himself; no mean feat given his fervent right-wing views and the wealth and status that now accompa- nied him wherever he went. In the first decade of the 20th century he
had also established himself as a powerful voice in the yachting world, serving as every variety of flag officer of the Royal Thames for over 40 years from 1905, only ending at his death in 1948. Paget knew from his wife’s hostessing
successes that the more magnificent the clubhouse the more influential his yacht club was likely to be. In February 1911 The Field reported: ‘The Royal Thames, which in recent years has taken a leading position in British yachting as a sort of concentric gathering of prominent yachts- men gathered from all parts of the coast, has outgrown its old premises in Albe- marle Street, where, for many seasons past, its members used to foregather in the quaint circular hall.’ The club was now to lease a larger property at 80-81 Piccadilly, a famous building associated with another glittering society hostess, Lady Burdett- Coutts, and widely considered ‘one of the landmarks of the metropolis’. At the Royal Thames AGM of 1912 Paget outlined how much both national and
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