Margaret Kemble Gage was the wife of General Thomas Gage

Thomas Gage

Thomas Gage was a British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as military commander in the early days of the American War of Independence....

, who led the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 during the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, and is said to have spied against him out of sympathy for the Revolution. She was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey

New Brunswick, New Jersey

New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...

 and resided in East Brunswick Township

East Brunswick Township, New Jersey

The town is located southwest of New York City and 48 miles northeast of Philadelphia.Lawrence Brook, a tributary of the Raritan River, runs along the western border of the township...

.

Patriot Spy

Historical texts, most notably Paul Revere's Ride suggest that Mrs. Gage allegedly provided Joseph Warren

Joseph Warren

Dr. Joseph Warren was an American doctor who played a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston in early days of the American Revolution, eventually serving as president of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress...

 with information regarding General Gage's raid at Lexington and Concord. Although there is no documented evidence that confirms Gage as Warren's informer, speculation of her being a spy for the patriots remained due to her familial ties to America. Among the skeptics was her husband. Hackett writes in Paul Revere's Ride, "All of this circumstantial evidence suggests that it is highly probable, though far from certain that Dr. Warren's informer was indeed Margaret Kemble Gage - a lady of divided loyalties to both her husband and her native land". As a result, Gage was sent to England aboard the Charming Nancy on her husband's orders in the summer of 1775.

Family life

Margaret Kemble was the great-granddaughter of Mayor of New York City

Mayor of New York City

The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...

 Stephanus Van Cortlandt

Stephanus Van Cortlandt

Stephanus van Cortlandt was the first native-born mayor of New York City, a position which he held from 1677 to 1678 and from 1686 to 1688. He was the patroon of Van Cortlandt Manor and was on the governor's executive council from 1691 to 1700. His brother, Jacobus Van Cortlandt also served as...

. She was the daughter of Peter Kemble, a well-to-do New Jersey businessman and politician, and of Gertrude Bayard.She married Thomas on December 8, 1758. Together they had seven children. Their first son, the future 3rd Viscount Gage

Henry Gage, 3rd Viscount Gage

Henry Gage, 3rd Viscount Gage was a British Army officer.Henry was the eldest son of General Thomas Gage, military leader of British Forces at the beginning of the American Revolution...

, was born in 1761. Gage's daughter, Charlotte Margaret Gage, married British Admiral Charles Ogle.

Her brother, Stephen Kemble was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army during the Revolution.

Sources

• Biography of Thomas Gage at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• New York Historical Society. Vol. 17 of The Kemble Papers. New York: New Historical Society, 1884. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Qq4FAAAAMAAJ.
• Fischer, David Hackett
  David Hackett Fischer
  David Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. Fischer's major works have tackled everything from large macroeconomic and cultural trends to narrative histories of significant events to explorations of...
  
  . Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.