Co-subject: Sir John Paston the younger
[Paston, Sir William 1479?-1554, lawyer and courtier, born about 1479, was son of] Sir John Paston the younger of Paston in Norfolk, by Margery, daughter of Sir Thomas Brews of Sturton Hall in Sall, Norfolk. The father was a soldier, and had been brought up in the family of the Duke of Norfolk, with whom his family had much dispute; but, like his elder brother, also called Sir John Paston [q.v.], who is separately noticed, and from whom he must be carefully distinguished, he took the Lancastrian side in the war of the Roses. With his brother he fought at Barnet in 1471, and had to secure a pardon to meet the new turn of affairs. He served in the army of 1475, and, on his elder brother's death in 1479, he succeeded to the estates. He was high sheriff of Norfolk in 1485, and evidently was much trusted by the new king, who gave him a reward of 160l. in the same year. He behaved well in the rebellion of Lambert Simnel, was knighted at the battle of Stoke in 1487, was made a knight of the king's body, and took part in the reception of Catherine of Arragon in 1501. He died in 1503.