Gage, Thomas (1719 or 1720–02 April 1787), soldier and the last royal governor of Massachusetts, was born in Firle, Sussex, England, the son of Thomas Gage, first Viscount Gage of the Irish peerage, who had for political reasons abandoned his family’s traditional Roman Catholicism and joined the Church of England, and Benedicta or Beata Maria Theresa Hall, an heiress who gained notoriety for her alleged promiscuity. The year of Gage’s birth traditionally has been given as 1721, but the fact that he entered school in 1728 suggests that he was actually born in 1719 or early 1720. Gage spent much of his early childhood at his mother’s family seat in Gloucestershire. During his eight years at the Westminster school (1728–1736), Gage associated with a number of youths who would later achieve military and political prominence....
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Gage, Thomas (1719 or 1720–02 April 1787), soldier and the last royal governor of Massachusetts
Philip Cash
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Nicholson, Francis (1655-1728), colonial governor and soldier
Jacob Judd
Nicholson, Francis (12 November 1655–05 March 1728), colonial governor and soldier, was born in the parish of Downholme, in Yorkshire, England. While his parentage and early years remain obscure, a supposition developed among his contemporaries that he was the illegitimate son of Charles Paulet, who bore the titles of Lord St. John and, later, duke of Bolton and who became his patron. From Nicholson’s writings it is known that he had some local schooling, probably prior to becoming a page to Lady St. John during his teenage years. At twenty-three he joined the King’s Holland Regiment as an ensign and served in Flanders. By July 1680 Nicholson was in Tangier, a lieutenant in the King’s Own Regiment. There he developed a reputation for being a strict drillmaster and loyal adherent to King Charles II. Appointed an aide-de-camp to Colonel Percy Kirke, deputy governor of Tangier, he served as an envoy to the emperor of Morocco and as a courier. For exemplary service, he was brevetted captain....
