Gamage History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
France

The name Gamage came to England with the ancestors of the Gamage family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Gamage family lived in Gamaches, in Normandy.

"The castle and vill of Gamaches were situated in the Norman Vexin, and gave name to a Deanery in the Archdiocese of Rouen. Godfrey de Gamaches, who doubtless derived his name from this vill, inherited two knight's fees of old feoffment in the Honour of Lacy. The English interests of his family were therefore established before the reign of Henry I. This Godfrey received from Henry III. a grant of Stottesden in Shropshire, where his posterity remained seated till about 1254. He also obtained Marshall, in the same county, by grant of Richard I., and died before 1176. His second son, William, inherited Mansel-Gamage, Herefordshire, Gamage Hall in Dimock, and other lands in Gloucestershire, and was Constable of Ludlow." 1

"The Lords of Gamaches in the French Vexin were said to be descended from Protadius, Mayor of the Palace to Theodoric, King of Orleans, 604." 2

Early Origins of the Gamage family

The surname Gamage was first found in Shropshire at Stottesden, a parish, in the union of Cleobury-Mortimer, hundred of Stottesden. 3

Early feudal rolls provided the king of the time a method of cataloguing holdings for taxation, but today they provide a glimpse into the wide surname spellings in use at that time.

Godfrey Gamages was listed in the Pipe Rolls for Hertfordshire in 1158; Philip de Camiges in the Hundredorum Rolls for Wiltshire in 1275; Alicia Gamage in the Hundredorum Rolls for Oxfordshire in 1279; and William Camage was listed a a Freeman of York in 1583. 4

Early History of the Gamage family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gamage research. Another 136 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1159, 1285, 1306, 1411, 1563, 1621, 1735, 1756, 1758, 1790, 1799, 1803, 1828, 1842, 1844, 1850, 1853, 1859, 1913 and 1939 are included under the topic Early Gamage History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gamage Spelling Variations

Multitudes of spelling variations are a hallmark of Anglo Norman names. Most of these names evolved in the 11th and 12th century, in the time after the Normans introduced their own Norman French language into a country where Old and Middle English had no spelling rules and the languages of the court were French and Latin. To make matters worse, medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, so names frequently appeared differently in the various documents in which they were recorded. The name was spelled Gamadge, Gamage, Gammage, Gamages, Gamaches and others.

Early Notables of the Gamage family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

Barbara Gamage (1563-1621), a Welsh heiress, who inherited the Coity estate on the death of her father John Gamage, and later married Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester

Gamage migration to the United States +

Because of this political and religious unrest within English society, many people decided to immigrate to the colonies. Families left for Ireland, North America, and Australia in enormous numbers, traveling at high cost in extremely inhospitable conditions. The New World in particular was a desirable destination, but the long voyage caused many to arrive sick and starving. Those who made it, though, were welcomed by opportunities far greater than they had known at home in England. Many of these families went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Gamage or a variant listed above:

Gamage Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Thomas Gamage, who settled in Jamaica and Barbados in 1680

Gamage Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Mich Gamage, who landed in New York, NY in 1812 5
Sam Gamage, who arrived in San Francisco in 1852
A Gamage, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1860 5

Gamage migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 6

Gamage Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Thomas and Stephen Gamage who settled in Barbados in 1685

Contemporary Notables of the name Gamage (post 1700) +

Harry G. Gamage (1900-1994), American college football head coach
Dharshana Gamage (b. 1979), Sri Lankan cricketer
Lalith Gamage MBCS, MIEE, professor, founding CEO and the current president of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology
Ihala Medagama Piyasena Gamage (b. 1949), Sri Lankan politician
Edwin Gamage Eastman (b. 1847), American Republican politician, Member of New Hampshire State House of Representatives, 1876; Member of New Hampshire State Senate 21st District, 1889-90 7

Citations +

Cleveland, Dutchess of The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages. London: John Murray, Abermarle Street, 1889. Print. Volume 2 of 3
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 23) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html