Attributed to John Bettes the Elder, Active C. 1531–1570 Portrait of Sir John Gage 1479 – 1556 Oil on Canvas 107 X 86 Cm.

Attributed to John Bettes the Elder, active c. 1531–1570

Portrait of Sir John Gage 1479 – 1556

oil on canvas

107 x 86 cm.

Provenance

a descendent of the Gage Family

Notes

Sir John Gage, (1479–1556), military administrator and courtier, was born on 28 October 1479 at Burstow, Surrey, the only son of William Gage of Burstow (d. 1497) and Agnes (d. 1501), daughter of Bartholomew Bolney, of Bolney, Sussex. He was baptized the same day at St Michael's Church, Burstow. The Gages later transferred their residence to Firle, near Lewes. The tradition that after his father's death John became a ward of the third duke of Buckingham, based on recollections of a son, seems to have no basis, and in 1499 his wardship was acquired by Robert Tate, alderman of London. By a contract dated 14 April 1502 he was married to Philippa, daughter of Sir Richard Guildford of Cranbrook, Kent, comptroller of the royal household; she predeceased him.

It was probably through the patronage of Guildford that Gage entered the royal household as esquire of the body during the lifetime of Henry VII and continued in that post under Henry VIII. In local affairs he served as justice of the peace for Sussex from 1514 and for Surrey from 1528 and on various other local commissions. His first major post came some time before 1522, by which time he had been appointed deputy to Sir Nicholas Vaux, captain of Guînes in the Calais pale. It seems that Vaux wished to replace him, and Sir William Sandys, treasurer of Calais and an early patron, pressed hard for a new office, repeatedly praising Gage's 'wisdom, personage and hardiness' and adding that he 'has done the king good service' (LP Henry VIII, vol. 3, pt 2, nos. 2222, 2326, 2413). On 17 August 1522 Gage was granted the survivorship of the office of comptroller of Calais during the infirmity of Sir Robert Wotton, and he succeeded him in 1524. He plainly gained experience in the French wars of 1512–13 and 1522–5 and by 1525 was a knight.

In April 1526 Gage exchanged his post of comptroller of Calais for that of vice-chamberlain of the household when his patron Sandys became lord chamberlain. In 1529 he was elected to parliament for Sussex (sitting in all the subsequent Henrician parliaments), and in April 1530 wrote to Cromwell from Windsor about Wolsey's ostentatious journey to the north, advising it would be wise for him to 'in godde avatte vatte vordeys passeys hyme' (LP Henry VIII, vol. 4, pt 3, no. 6335). In 1529–30 he received grants of wardship, portions of Wolsey's property, a manor in Lincolnshire, and the deer park at Burstow from Archbishop Warham. Appointed commissioner to survey the lands of Calais in 1532, in December he went north on important royal business, staying until the spring of 1533.

Thus far Gage's rise, if slow, had been smooth and successful, but it seems the impending royal divorce caused problems. Gage was conventionally pious, but had signed the petition for divorce to the pope in July 1530, and was at Cranmer's court at Dunstable on 12 May 1533. In August, though, he left the court. His friend Sir William Fitzwilliam (alongside whom he had fought when the latter was captain of Guînes in 1524) reported that 'Master vice-chamberlain departed from the king in such sort as I am sorry to hear; the king licensed him to depart hence, and so took leave of him, the water standing in his eyes' (LP Henry VIII, vol. 6, no. 965), adding, in a letter asking Cromwell to intervene, that though he was a man 'more ready to serve God than the world … there is so much honesty in him that I dare warrant that, next God, he loves the king above all things' (LP Henry VIII, vol. 6, no. 966). Chapuys reported in January 1534 that Gage, 'who is of the Council, and one of the wisest and most experienced in war of the whole kingdom has renounced his office and gone to the Charterhous