Knightly.
Poulett of Hinton St. George, Earl Poulett 1706; Baron 1627.
Paulet, in the hundred of North Petherton in this county, gave name to this historical family, the first on record being Sir William de Paulet, who died in 1242. He was of Leigh in Devonshire, which, with Rode in Somersetshire, successively became the family seat. Hinton St. George, which came from the heiress of Denebaud in the reign of Henry VI., is noticed by Leland as "a right goodly manor place of fre stone, with two goodly high tourres embattled in the ynner court," and has ever since remained the seat of this the elder branch of the family. The Marquesses of Winchester (1551) and the extinct Dukes of Bolton descend from William second son of Sir John Paulet of Paulet, who died in 1378. They were of Basing in Hampshire, derived through the heiress of Poynings from the great house of St.John, in the reign of Henry VI.
See Leland's Itinerary, ii. fol. 55, vi. fol. 11; Brydges's Collins, ii. 367, iv. 1; Collinson's History of Somersetshire, ii. p. 165. For an account of Hinton St. George, the Topographer, vol. i. p. 171, vol. ii. p.354. For Basing, Gent. Mag. 1787, p. 680.
Arms.—Sable, three swords in pile, their points towards the base, argent, the pomels and hilts or. Gules, a pair of wings conjoined in lure argent, being the coat of his mother the heiress of Reyney, was borne by Sir John Paulet in the 15th of Richard II.
Present Representative, William Poulett, 6th Earl Poulett.
Speke of Jordans.
