Bibliography - Gage
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The Gages, by Mark Antony Lower, published 1865 in The Worthies of Sussex (pp.278-282) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 3208][Lib 3233][Lib 3304] & The Keep [LIB/503515][LIB/504913]

The Household Goods etc, of Sir John Gage, of West Firle, Co. Sussex, K.G., 1556, by R. Garraway Rice, F.S.A., published 1902 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 45, article, pp.114-127) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2130] & The Keep [LIB/500263] & S.A.S. library   View Online

The Gages of Firle, by Lady Kate, published 1927 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. I no. 4, article, pp.150-164) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2303][Lib 8326] & The Keep [LIB/500137]

Notes on the Lord Gage collection of manuscripts, by Clarence E. Carter, published March 1929 in The Mississippi Valley Historical Review (vol. 15, no. 4, article, pp.511-519)

At Firle Place.

The Gage Monuments, Firle, by S.N.Q. contributor, published May 1929 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. II no. 6, note, pp.175-177) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8951] & The Keep [LIB/500204] & S.A.S. library

The Gage Brasses at Firle, by Fane Lambarde, published August 1929 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. II no. 7, note, pp.215-216) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8951] & The Keep [LIB/500204] & S.A.S. library

Sussex and the U.S.A., 2nd series. 4 - Sussex and General The Hon. Thomas Gage, Governor of Massachusetts, by David McLean, published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 5, article, pp.354-361; no. 6, pp.401-405) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]

The Strange Adventures of Thomas Gage, by David McLean, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 6, article, pp.360-370) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

The Gage Monuments at Firle and their author, by Mrs Esdaile, published May 1941 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VIII no. 6, article, pp.162-164) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8865][Lib 2207] & The Keep [LIB/500210] & S.A.S. library

Edward Gage, of Bentleigh, Framfield, by W. H. Challen, published May 1959 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XV no. 3, note, pp.102-103) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8233] & The Keep [LIB/500217] & S.A.S. library

The Gages of Firle 1580-1640: an economic history of a recusant family in Sussex, by S. W. Pearson, 1968 at Sussex University (M.A. thesis)

A Dispute over Iron Ore between two County Grandees, edited by Judith Brent, published 1977 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 11, article, pp.20-26) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

Given below are extracts from correspondence between Sir Richard Sackville and Sir Edward Gage in 1560 and 1562 which is deposited with the Sussex Archaeological Society. (G6/50) Sir Richard Sackville, first cousin to Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth, had established himself as a prominent member of the rising gentry before her accession, having grown rich by the exploitation of secularised monastic and chantry property. In 1558 he was elected M.P. for Kent and in 1563 for Sussex. Sir Edward Gage's father, Sir John Gage, a prominent and successful courtier under Henry VIII and Queen Mary, had also waxed rich through the purchase of monastic properties but the continuing allegiance of Sir Edward Gage to Roman Catholicism may have sapped somewhat his local standing and power. Rest Hills, the copyhold in question, lay on the northern edge of Ashdown Forest in the Manor of Maresfield but in the parish of East Grinstead adjoining the highway from Newbridge to Forest Row and consisted of 111/2 acres of arable and 511/2 acres of woodland.(see G6/10).

The Gage family at Bentley, by Elisabeth Mayfield, published 1984 in Ringmer History (No. 3, article, pp.59-66)

In Framfield.

Firle Place in Sussex, home of the Gage family for 500 years, by Richard Cavendish, published June 1998 in History today (vol. 48, issue 6, article, pp.62-63)   View Online

One of the Gage family ended his life as a grandee of Spain after vainly attempting to buy the throne of Poland, and another gave the family name to the greengage variety of plum. Or so the stories go. General Thomas Gage (1721- 87) was certainly the British commander-in-chief in North America at the outbreak of the American War of Independence. He brought his beautiful American wife home and Firle Place draws many American visitors today. Any misgivings they may feel about a place linked with someone on the 'wrong' side seem to be swept instantly away by the immemorial charm of the Georgian house with its park, attendant village and stumpy-towered church below the South Downs.

Sir John Gage, Tudor courtier and soldier (1479-1556), by David Potter, published November 2002 in The English Historical Review (vol. xvii, no. 474, article, pp.1109-1146, ISSN: 0013-8266)   View Online

Sir John Gage's political career lasted over fifty years and experienced many of the ups and downs of politics under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I providing a case study of the crucial politically active county gentry upon whom the Tudor state relied. Gage has generally been neglected as a political figure even though he held some of the most important court offices and, as military technocrat, was responsible for the supply of the armies of the 1540s. Insofar as he has any reputation, it is as the staunch conservative and rather sinister figure in Protestant historiography and perhaps as a timeserver. In fact, his religious allegiance was much more fluid and his role in the factional battles of court life at once more complex and more interesting than might at first appear. This study also brings out the purely private dimension and economic activity of a courtier who inherited only a modest landed estate but was able to trade on his influence at court in order to build up a local power-base that established his family in the long term among the leading gentry (and late peerage) of Sussex.

Sir John Gage, Tudor Courtier and Soldier (1479-1556) , by David Potter, published November 2002 in The English Historical Review (vol. cxvii, issue 474, article, pp.1109-1146, ISSN: 0013-8266) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/509150]   View Online

Sir John Gage's political career lasted over fifty years and experienced many of the ups and downs of politics under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I providing a case study of the crucial politically active county gentry upon whom the Tudor state relied. Gage has generally been neglected as a political figure even though he held some of the most important court offices and, as military technocrat, was responsible for the supply of the armies of the 1540s. Insofar as he has any reputation, it is as the staunch conservative and rather sinister figure in Protestant historiography and perhaps as a timeserver. In fact, his religious allegiance was much more fluid and his role in the factional battles of court life at once more complex and more interesting than might at first appear. This study also brings out the purely private dimension and economic activity of a courtier who inherited only a modest landed estate but was able to trade on his influence at court in order to build up a local power-base that established his family in the long term among the leading gentry (and late peerage) of Sussex.

My Tudor Connections: Sir John Gage of Firle and his family, by Colin Smith, published March 2014 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 1, article, pp.25-27) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508980]

I have been researching my family tree for over 35 years, not an easy task with a surname like SMITH! The SMITHs were Kent based, at a village called Westwell, near Ashford and were the usual agricultural labourers. However, the marriage of my 3 x great-grandparents, William SMITH (1791-1873) and Charlotte WALKER (1795-1866) on 18th October 1813 at Westwell has provided me with the 'stepping stone' to an ancestral line that includes the well-known family of GAGE, based at Firle Place, near Lewes.