Britain's Most Eccentric Aristocrat?

Given the overwhelming choice in terms of the mad, bad and dangerous to know individuals who’ve proliferated Britain’s upper-classes over the centuries, the above claim seems like mighty bold talk. 

In fact, we in Wales have a fair share of unconventional, idiosyncratic and downright dodgy historical figures to call our own - read up on the life of Tredegar House’s ‘Black Monk’, the kangaroo-boxing, scandal-courting occultist Evan Morgan if you want any further proof. 

But ‘Britain’s Most Eccentric Aristocrat’? Well, that’s the exact epithet bestowed upon Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey, by a headline in The Daily Telegraph less than a decade ago. He was - to say the very least - unique, and it’s a fair assumption that few figures in the history of Ynys Môn have lived such extraordinary lives, have burned as brightly - or as briefly - as The Dancing Marquess.

And that might explain why Paget, who died back in 1905 at the age of 29, is enjoying something of a moment 121 years after his death. His remarkable cultural revival began with the musical How to Win Against History, created by Anglesey-born writer and performer Seiriol Davies, which brought the story to modern theatre audiences in all its campy glory. More recently, Paget’s life inspired this year’s feature film Madfabulous, starring Welsh actor Callum Scott Howells, directed by another Ynys Môn native - Celyn Jones - and filmed partly at Plas Newydd, Paget’s ancestral home. 

Plas Newydd has been in the care of The National Trust for the past half a century, and this year it hosted a Paget focused exhibition - All Dressed Up - featuring costumes from the film.

So, who - and what - was the 5th Marquess of Anglesey? 

Aristocrat, actor, dancer, collector, cross-dresser, patron of the arts, flamboyant breaker of convention and, eventually, squanderer of a fortune, he transformed his home at Plas Newydd - specifically the estate’s chapel - into a stage. Here he created a world very much apart from the restrained, strait-laced society of late Victorian and early Edwardian Britain. Having grown up on Ynys Môn, both Seiriol Davies and Celyn Jones knew the history, and both see in Paget’s extravagance certain elements of later, iconic rock stars, especially in the gender fluidity of the famous photographs that kept him in the public eye. 

According to Jones, 

The photographs left an indelible mark on Seiriol Davies too, when he visited Plas Newydd as a child.

Henry Cyril Paget was born in 1875, the only son of Henry Paget, later the 4th Marquess of Anglesey, and Blanche Mary Boyd. His mother died when he was just two years old, and he was subsequently brought up by an aunt in France. He first came to the Plas Newydd estate, in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll on Ynys Môn, when he was eight years old.

His background made for formidable expectations. The Pagets were one of Britain's grand aristocratic families. Henry's great-grandfather, the 1st Marquess, had commanded the British heavy cavalry at Waterloo, famously losing a leg on the battlefield. Henry the 5th, however, was to make his mark in an altogether different field.

When his father died in November 1898, the 23-year-old became the 5th Marquess of Anglesey. He inherited the family's estates, including Beaudesert in Staffordshire and magnificent Plas Newydd overlooking the Menai Strait. He also inherited a vast fortune, with an annual income of around £110,000 - estimated by the National Trust as equivalent to roughly £18 million today. He then squandered the lot, blowing every penny on diamonds, luxury cars, silk gowns, and his greatest love, performing.

He renamed Plas Newydd ‘Anglesey Castle’ and set about creating a world in which spectacle and imagination could flourish. At its heart was his Gaiety Theatre.

The 150-seat theatre at Plas Newydd became the setting for productions involving friends, servants and locals, before Henry brought in professional performers. His audiences could include neighbours, tradespeople, servants, students and visitors - and admission was free. 

Productions ranged from Shakespeare to pantomimes, and there are two beautiful programmes from a performance of Red Riding Hood - the company’s second annual pantomime - dated December 26th 1902, among the treasures to be auctioned by Rogers Jones in this November’s Welsh Sale. The programmes themselves are a work of art, and highlight Paget’s introduction of his latest showstopper, the ‘Snow Dance’.

Other productions included - significantly - Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband. Performed following the playwright's conviction for gross indecency in 1895, and at a time when many mainstream theatre companies studiously avoided his work, this was in itself provocative. And brave.

Paget’s most celebrated performance became his ‘butterfly dance’, in which coloured lights played across his white silk costume. His dancing, theatrical clothes and extraordinary jewellery helped earn him the enduring sobriquet of The Dancing Marquess.

According to academic and historian Vivien Gardner, who has researched Paget’s story extensively, he was “a classic narcissist”, his outrageous lifestyle and willingness to publicly flout convention leading to a form of notoriety. 

It couldn’t last - and things fell apart quickly. Having married his cousin, Lilian Chetwynd in 1898, his wife sought an annulment in 1900 on grounds of non-consummation. His historic spending spree ended in a colossal bankruptcy, with accumulated debts equivalent to £60 million today.

This triggered an auction of mythic proportions, The Great Anglesey Sale of 1904. A 40-day extravaganza, it remains one of the most surreal and gigantic liquidation events in British history, transforming Plas Newydd into a temporary public marketplace.

Over 17,000 lots were offered for sale, ranging from Henry's clothes, cars and possessions to ordinary household objects.

From an auctioneer’s perspective, this tragic end holds a grisly fascination, and being a Llanfairpwllgwyngyll boy himself, Ben Rogers Jones has researched the story thoroughly and is intrigued not only by the logistical nightmare it presented, but by the one treasure to survive the carnage. 

Ben’s admiration for the local firm of auctioneers who took on the challenge is also obvious.

Henry left Plas Newydd for France and died the following year in Monte Carlo. His remains were brought back to Ynys Môn, to be buried at St Edwen’s Church, Llanedwen, on the Plas Newydd estate. 

And what remained of his reputation? Well, very little. The family spent years trying to erase his memory, burning his private papers and turning his beloved theatre back into a chapel. The fortune had disappeared, the jewels were scattered, the theatre vanished.

However, the stories left behind in those rare auction catalogues cemented The Dancing Marquess and the Great Anglesey Sale as the ultimate legend of aristocratic indulgence. And those eccentric, exquisite photographs beguiled and intrigued generation after generation. 

More than a century after Henry Cyril Paget left Plas Newydd for the final time, the extraordinary young man who once filled it with costumes, lights, actors and audiences has returned to take centre stage. 

The 5th Marquess of Anglesey dances on for new audiences, finding his spotlight once again in the cultural imagination of 21st century Wales.  Somehow, one suspects, he would have rather enjoyed that unlikely prospect.

By Rhodri Davies

Broadcaster and journalist

Part II of our Autumn Welsh Sale takes place on Monday 23rd November 2026 at our Cardiff saleroom.

Browse the full Welsh Sale (Part II) catalogue.