Paget, Mary (1865–1919)
Paget, Mary (1865–1919)
English-American social leader, philanthropist and war nurse. Name variations: Minnie Paget; Minnie Stevens; Mrs. Arthur Paget; Lady Arthur Paget. Born Mary Stevens in 1865; died in 1919; daughter of Paran Stevens of Boston, Massachusetts; married Sir Arthur H. Paget (British envoy to Belgrade).
American-born Mary "Minnie" Paget, the daughter of a wealthy Boston socialite, was one of the foremost leaders of London society during the reign of Edward VII (r. 1901–1910). Her home was frequented by the celebrated in society, literature, and art, as well as by Edward and his queen, Alexandra of Denmark . During the Boer War, Paget equipped a hospital ship and named it the Maine. She also made a collection of furniture of the period of James I for the Jamestown Exposition.
When her husband Sir Arthur Paget was minister at Belgrade, Lady Paget became well known for her services in relieving distress and suffering during the first and second Balkan wars. She worked in the hospitals day and night, nursing the sick and wounded with courage and self-sacrifice. During World War I, Paget rendered valuable service in Serbia, where she maintained a hospital and worked in cooperation with the American Red Cross. The Serbians, from the monarch downward, revered her, and her services there won the praise of the Austro-Hungarian government, one of the rare occasions in which a warring nation honored the subject of an enemy nation.