GAGE, Hon. William Hall (1718-91), of Firle, Suss. and High Meadow, Glos.

In 1744 William Gage was returned with the support of the Duke of Newcastle for Seaford, in succession to Sir William Gage, whose estates had passed to his first cousin, Thomas, 1st Viscount Gage [I], William Gage’s father. Like Lord Gage, a member of the Prince of Wales’s party, William Gage voted with the Government till 1747, when they both followed the Prince into opposition. At the general election that year Newcastle informed Lord Gage that he could not recommend William Gage for re-election at Seaford.1A. Stone to Hurdis, 10 June 1747, Add. 32711, f. 287. On this, Lord Gage, with the Prince’s support, put up William, standing jointly with Lord Middlesex, for Seaford, where they were defeated by Newcastle’s candidates, one of whom was William Pitt. The defeated candidates petitioned against the return, on the ground that Newcastle had infringed the privileges of the House of Commons by personally canvassing on behalf of the candidates and by sitting next to the returning officer at the poll to intimidate the voters, in contravention of a standing resolution of the House forbidding peers to intervene in elections. Treated with derision by Pitt, the petition was rejected by an overwhelming majority.

In the 2nd Lord Egmont’s lists of persons to be brought into Parliament on Frederick’s accession, William Gage is put down for Seaford, Monmouth, or Sussex. Going over to the Government after Frederick’s death, he was returned by Newcastle for Seaford in 1754. He died 11 Oct. 1791.