William Hall Gage

Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Hall Gage GCB GCH (2 October 1777 – 4 January 1864) was Second Sea Lord in the British Navy.

Naval career
Born the third son of General Thomas Gage, Gage joined the Royal Navy in 1789. In 1797 he was given command of the frigate HMS Terpsichore and sailed in the Mediterranean to conduct the Siege of Malta. He took command of HMS Uranie in 1801, HMS Thetis in 1805 and HMS Indus in 1813. Promoted Rear Admiral in 1821 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station in 1825.

He became Commander-in-Chief in the Downs in 1833. Promoted Vice-Admiral in 1837, he became Commander-in-Chief in Lisbon later that year. He served as Second Naval Lord from 1841 to 1846 and then became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth from 1848 to 1851. He had to contain an outbreak of cholera on an American ship passing through Plymouth Sound in 1849.

Gage Cape, a rocky promontory at the eastern edge of Ross Island near Antarctica, was named after him by Sir James Clark Ross, and Gage Street, a short one way commercial street in Central, Hong Kong. A marble memorial to him was erected at St Peter's Church, Thurston, Suffolk.

Gage Roads the sea channel in the Indian Ocean offshore from Fremantle, Western Australia is also named after him.

Cricket
Gage's grandfather was a cousin of Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet who was a noted patron of Sussex cricket in the first half of the 18th century. Gage himself was involved in cricket and is recorded playing in two matches for the Montpelier and Kennington team in 1796 and in a first-class match in 1802. He had only one innings in that match and scored 15 not out.