Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Hall Gage, (2 October 1777 – 4 January 1864) was Second Sea Lord in the British Navy. He took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent and the Siege of French-held Malta during the French Revolutionary Wars. He also saw action at the attack on the French ship Romulus during the closing stages of the Napoleonic Wars.
As a senior officer, Gage became Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station and went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the Downs Station. Following the Belgian Revolution, Gage took part in the blockade of the Scheldt, offering naval support to the new Kingdom of Belgium. He then became Commander-in-Chief in Lisbon Station, with orders to protect the young Queen Maria II during the Liberal Wars. After that, Gage became Second Naval Lord in the Second Peel ministry and then Commander-in-Chief, Devonport.
Early career
thumb|left|The fifth-rate [[HMS Terpsichore (1785)|HMS Terpsichore (on the left) which Gage commanded during the Siege of French-held Malta.]]
Born the third son of General Thomas Gage and Margaret Kemble, Gage joined the Royal Navy in November 1789. He was appointed to the third-rate HMS Bellona at Portsmouth and, having been promoted to midshipman, transferred to the third-rate HMS Captain in September 1790. He went on to serve in the third-rate HMS Colossus, the sixth-rate HMS Proserpine, the third-rate HMS America, the third-rate HMS Egmont and then the second-rate HMS Princess Royal.
Gage transferred to the fifth-rate HMS Minerve in January 1796, and having been promoted to lieutenant on 11 March 1796, he took part in the capture of the Spanish ship Santa Sabina in December 1796. Gage was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station, with his flag in the third-rate HMS Warspite, in December 1825. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, the Downs in 1833 and, following the Belgian Revolution, took part in the blockade of the Scheldt that summer offering naval support to the newly established Kingdom of Belgium. he became Commander-in-Chief of the Lisbon Station, with his flag in the third-rate HMS Hastings, in April 1837 with orders to protect the young Queen Maria II during the ongoing Liberal Wars in Portugal. Gage became Commander-in-Chief, Devonport, with his flag in the first-rate HMS San Josef, in 1848 and in that role he had to contain an outbreak of cholera on the United States ship American Eagle passing through Plymouth Sound in June 1849. He was appointed Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom on 24 October 1853 and Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom on 6 November 1854 and then appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 18 May 1860, before being promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 20 May 1862. He died at his home, Thurston Cottage, in Thurston, Suffolk on 4 January 1864 and was buried at St Peter's Churchyard in Thurston. Gage Street, a short one way commercial street in Central, Hong Kong, and Gage Roads, the sea channel in the Indian Ocean offshore from Fremantle, Western Australia, were also named after him.
Family
Gage never married or had any children.