Born the younger son of the 1st Marquess of Anglesey, Paget in 1827 like many younger sons of nobility entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman on the second-rate ship-of-the-line HMS Asia and took part in the Battle of Navarino in 1827.^[1] Promoted to commander in 1834, he took charge of HMS Pearl and, promoted to captain in 1839, he commanded the first-rate ship-of-the-line HMS Howe and then the fifth-rate frigate HMS Aigle.^[1]

Paget attempted to enter Parliament as a Liberal for Southampton in 1837, but was returned as a member for Sandwich in 1847, retaining the seat until July 1852.^[1]

Paget served as secretary to the Master-General of the Ordnance from 1846 to 1853.^[1] He commanded the second-rate ship-of-the-line HMS Princess Royal in the expedition to the Baltic in 1854 during the Crimean War (1854–1856).^[1] Again Member of Parliament for Southampton from March 1857, he was appointed Secretary to the Admiralty in June 1859 but accepted the Chiltern Hundreds (i.e., resigned) in March 1866.^[1] He was promoted to vice admiral in 1865 and was Commander-in Chief, Mediterranean Fleet from 1866 to 1869.^[1]

Paget retired in 1876. He died in 1895 at the age of 83.^[1]

In 1852 Paget married Martha Stuart, the youngest daughter of Admiral Sir Robert Waller Otway, Bt.^[1]

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}

• O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Paget, Clarence Edward" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Clarence Paget