Chidiock Paulet

{{short description|16th-century English politician}}

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{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}

Chidiock Paulet (by 1521 – 17 August 1574) was an English politician and Captain of Portsmouth. He was born the third son of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester and educated at the Inner Temple.{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/paulet-chidiock-1521-74|title=PAULET, Chidiock (by 1521-74), of Wade, Hants.| publisher=Historyofparliamentonline.org| access-date=18 December 2014}} His unusual name originates from the village of Chideock, Dorset, which was held by Arundells to whom his family were related by marriage.{{cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/paulet-sir-william-1488-1572|title=PAULET, Sir William (by 1488-1572), of Basing and Netley, Hants, Chelsea, Mdx. and London|access-date=1 October 2024}}

He was Esquire of the Stable by 1545, Receiver at the Court of Augmentations for Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Wiltshire by 1550–1554, and at the Exchequer from 1554 to his death.

In the 1530s he was granted a lease of the manor of Odiham, Hampshire. In 1549 he was granted the manor of Wade in Eling by his father.{{cite book|title=The Life and Career of William Paulet (c.1475–1572)|first=David|last=Loades|date=2016|page=100}}

He was Captain of Portsmouth from May 1554 – 1559 and treasurer of the Bishop of Winchester from 1566 until his death.

He was returned as a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Bramber in 1547. As he had no link with the Sussex constituency, this was presumably through the influence of the privy council, Bramber then being held by the Crown.{{cite web|title=Bramber|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/constituencies/bramber|access-date=1 October 2024}} Following the death of Henry VIII, he did not sit again until he was returned for Gatton in October 1553 following the accession of Mary I.

Although he served as a justice of the peace under Elizabeth I, he was described as not being in favour of her religious settlement.{{cite thesis|title=Hampshire recusants in the reign of Elizabeth 1, with some reference to the problem of the church-papists|last=Paul|first=John Edward|date=1958|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Southampton|page=294}} His religious sympathies are also suggested by his failure to sit in Edward VI's parliaments and the Hampshire recusant Peter Tichborne naming his son Chidiock.{{sfn|Paul|1958|p=58}}