Susan Elizabeth Gay was a chronicler of Falmouth in a book published in 1903 entitled Old Falmouth

Falmouth, Cornwall

Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....

.

Miss Susan Gay was the daughter of William Gay (1812-1868) and his wife, Charlotte Grace Elizabeth, born Pedersen and the granddaughter of William Gay, the last Falmouth Agent of the General Post Office Packet Service

Post Office Packet Service

The Post Office Packet Service dates to Tudor times and ran until 1823, when the Admiralty assumed control of the service. Originally, the Post Office used packet ships to carry mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. The vessels generally also carried bullion, private...

 (Old Falmouth, pp.139-140, 204-206), who retired in 1842.

She was a friend of the Fox family of Falmouth

Fox family of Falmouth

The Fox family of Falmouth, Cornwall, UK were very influential in the development of the town of Falmouth in the 19th century and of the Cornish Industrial Revolution...

, who provided some of her material (pp.149-160, 219-222) and illustrations (George Croker Fox p.149, Anna Maria Fox

Anna Maria Fox

Anna Maria Fox was a promoter of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and the artistic and cultural development of Falmouth in Cornwall, UK.-Family links:...

 p.151, Robert Were Fox FRS

Robert Were Fox the Younger

Robert Were Fox FRS was a British geologist, natural philosopher and inventor. He is known mainly for his work on the temperature of the earth and his construction of a compass to measure magnetic dip at sea....

 p.153, Joseph Fox, Senior p.159). Wilson Fox helped her with the Chronology. In her preface, she acknowledges help from them and other Falmouth notables. She ends the preface

"I should mention that this little work is simply a Collecteana, and has no greater pretension". page x.

Miss Gay was also a writer on Theosophy

Theosophy

Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...

, sometimes using the non-de-plume "Libra".

In 1910 or 1911, she was interviewed by Walter Evans-Wentz

Walter Evans-Wentz

Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz was an anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism.-Biography:...

 concerning folktales heard from the peasants around her home at Crill, near Falmouth, published in The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries .

Publications

• Harry’s Big Boots. A fairy tale, for “Small Folke” ... With illustrations by the author, drawn on wood by P. Skelton.London, 1873.
• Woman and a Future Life, London, Houlston & Sons, 1876.
• Womanhood in its eternal aspect. Reprinted from Modern Thought, Dec. 15, 1879. pp. 4., 1879.
• Spiritualistic Sanity: A reply to Dr. F. Winslow’s “Spiritualistic Madness.”. London, Falmouth, 1879 .
• John William Fletcher, clairvoyant. A biographical sketch, with some chapters on the present era and religious reform. E. W. Allen: London, 1883 .
• The spirit of the New Testament, or The revelation of the mission of Christ. By a woman, London: E. W. Allen, 1885.
• The Parish Church of Falmouth. Falmouth : F.I. Earle, 1897.
• Falmouth and Flushing a Hundred Years Ago : Some Extracts From James Silk Buckingham
  James Silk Buckingham
  James Silk Buckingham was an English author, journalist and traveller.He was born at Flushing near Falmouth, the son of a farmer, and had a limited education. His youth was spent at sea, and in 1797 he was captured by the French and held as a prisoner of war at Corunna...
  
  's Autobiography / By a Falmouth Resident. Falmouth : Printed by Earle, 1895.
• Commanders in H.M. Packet Service from 1688 to 1852 : reprinted from the published record at Falmouth / preface by S. E. G. [Miss Gay]. Falmouth : J.H.Lake, 1898.
• Old Falmouth : the story of the town from the days of the Killigrews to the earliest part of the 19th century. London : Headley Brothers, 1903.
• Old Falmouth, [new abridged ed.] Penzance : Oakmagic Publications, 2000. ISBN 1-90116359-8 Notes: This is a considerably shortened version of the original work. Originally published: London : Headley Brothers, 1903.
• The mystic and occult knowledge of the early Christian Church : an address given in Falmouth on May 9th 1913 / by Susan E. Gay. London : Theosophical Society, 1913?.

Parish records transcripts

• [Truro. St. Mary Church]. The register of marriages, baptisms and burials of the parish of St. Mary, Truro, Cornwall A.D. 1597 to 1837 / transcribed and edited by Susan E. Gay, Mrs. Howard Fox, Stella Fox, H. Tapley-Soper ,. parts 1 and 2, Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1940.

• [Falmouth. King Charles the Martyr]. The register of baptisms, marriages and burials of the parish of Falmouth in the County of Cornwall, 1663-1812. Part II, (burials) / transcribed and edited by Susan Elizabeth Gay and Mrs. Howard Fox, Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1915.