Paulet was a
Justice of the peace in Hampshire 1593–1601. In 1606 he was appointed governor of
Derry in Ireland by letters of 20 and 23 July 1606 from
King James I to
Mountjoy, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. These letters speak of his service in the wars. The appointment was obtained through the influence of his cousin
John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester NOTE, the 2nd Marquess of Winchester was dead at this time, so it must have been his son who was the 3rd Marquess of Winchester per Wikipedia for the 2nd and 3rd marquesses of Winchester, who knew
Mountjoy, the Lord Deputy of Ireland. Paulet replaced
Henry Docwra. Paulet began at Derry by buying land from Docwra, who had built a town there more than thirty years after the destruction of Randolph's settlement. Docwra incurred the hostility of
Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy (who became Earl of Devonshire),
Lord Deputy of Ireland, by supporting
Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan, Sir
Cahir O'Doherty, and
Niall Garve O'Donnell, who he thought had been ill-treated. James I agreed with Devonshire on Irish policy, about the desirability of ruling
Ulster through
Hugh Ó Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and
Rory Ó Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, without much regard for minor chiefs. Devonshire died 3 April 1606; but he had previously approved the sale of Docwra's property to Paulet, whom he knew well. Docwra accordingly sold him his house, land which he had bought, and his company of foot, at a low price. The vice-provostship of Derry was thrown in without extra charge. The new governor was established at Derry in the early winter of 1606, and on 20 February following
Sir Arthur Chichester, the new Lord Deputy, told
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury that he was unfit for the place, and that there had been many dissensions since his arrival. He fell out with
George Montgomery, the new
bishop of Derry, over land claims. Tyrone and Tyrconnell fled from Ireland early in September 1607 (the
Flight of the Earls); O'Cahan, who ruled the greater part of what is now
County Londonderry, and of O'Doherty, the chief of
Inishowen in
County Donegal, came under some suspicion. Docwra had tried to divide these chiefs from the Earls, but Paulet had his own ideas on handling them. Paulet was knighted in 1607. O'Doherty put some armed men on
Tory Island, but this seems to have been done with the consent of the few inhabitants. Sir Richard Hansard, who commanded for the
Plantation of Ulster at
Lifford in Donegal, recounts that O'Doherty left
Burt Castle, on
Lough Swilly, at the end of October to superintend the felling of timber for building; but that this gave rise to a report that he was in rebellion. He then began to arm about seventy followers, refusing all recruits from outside his own district. Paulet made an unsuccessful attempt to seize Burt in the chief's absence, and reported everything to Chichester. O'Doherty remonstrated with him in a temperate letter; Paulet then (falsely) denied that he had ever intended to surprise Burt, and accused O'Doherty of treason. O'Doherty went to Dublin early in December and made his excuses to Chichester, who accepted them, but without much confidence. On 18 April the privy council ordered him to be fully restored to such of his ancestral lands as were still withheld, but this order did not reach the Irish government until he was actually in rebellion. == O'Doherty's Rebellion ==