Henry Gage, 4th Viscount Gage


Henry Hall Gage, 4th Viscount Gage was Viscount Gage of Firle Place through much of the 19th century.

Biography

Henry Gage was born on 14 December 1791, the son of Henry Gage, 3rd Viscount Gage and Susanna Maria Skinner. His parents had extensive roots in British North America as descendants from the Schuyler family, the Delancey family, and the Van Cortlandt family.
He inherited the Viscountcy on 29 January 1808.
On 8 March 1813 Gage married Elizabeth Maria Foley; they had four children:
Their eldest daughter, Caroline Harriet Gage, married the 4th Viscount Gort on May 4, 1847 - their grandson being Field Marshal John Vereker, Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

Handling the Estate

In 1817 Viscount Gage sold a substantial portion of the family's holdings - the Highmeadow estate, 4,257 acres of farms in Staunton, Newland, and English Bicknor and woods in Hadnock, Monmouthshire, and Mailscot, and also ironworks and mills in Redbrook and Lydbrook, to the Crown Commissioners of Woods.
He spent considerable time in renovating the family manor at Firle.

Political activity

Viscount Gage held a strong interest in politics, holding reactionary conservative views and vigorously opposing Britain's Reform Bill.