“ In 1538 he was created Lord St John, and he was enriched by a grant of the lands of Netley Abbey, near Southampton. He was appointed lord steward of the household, and lord chamberlain, and became a knight of the garter in 1543. Henry VIII. named him one of the council of regency for his son Edward VI. During the reign of Edward VI., St John kept the favour both of the Protector Somerset, who made him lord keeper of the great seal, and of Somerset’s enemy, the duke of Northumberland, who kept him in office. He was created earl of Wiltshire in 1550, and marquess of Winchester in 1551. ”

“ He served on the courts which tried Sir Thomas More and Anne Boleyn, and he was employed to tell Catharine of Aragon that she and her daughter were degraded from their rank. It is characteristic of the type of man that he did his work gently, and with a constant recollection of the changes of fortune. His personal kindness to Anne Boleyn, which she acknowledged, no doubt stood him in good stead on the accession of her daughter Queen Elizabeth. ”

“ This saying, repeated by Sir Robert Naunton in his Fragmenta regalia, may possibly not have been due to the marquess himself, but if not it was well invented of a man who passed through many dangers and always contrived to keep, or to improve, his places. He was the son of Sir John Paulet of Basing, near Basingstoke in Hampshire, and his wife Alice or Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Paulet of Hinton St George, Somerset. ”