XXXI The Peacock

Page 109	Gage	George	52
		Mary	45
		Peter	19
		Susan	18
		John	16
		Joseph	13
		Thomas	12
		Martha	31.8.59
		Jane	27.1.61
		Mary	26.4.62
		Robert	27.3.64
		Edward	22.4.66
		Benjamin	2.12.67

The Peacock at this time was a grocer’s shop and "beerhouse", and the shopkeepers were Mary (née Peacock) and George Gage. They lived above the shop with their eleven surviving children - a twelfth, Samuel, having died at the age of three.

Bringing up a family of this size must have been an interesting experience for George, as he was the only son of his parents Peter and Susanna - his mother (also Gage, probably Peter’s cousin) having died when he was only three years old.

The wills of George and Mary are both interesting. Unusually, George left everything he owned to Mary absolutely, evidently trusting her to do what was best for their children. She in turn stipulated that their business was to be carried on for the benefit of such of their children as should be unmarried. And in due course, their two daughters Martha and Jane did keep the business going well into living memory.

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