1836 Gage Large Format Map of Liverpool, England

Michael Alexander Gage (1788 - 1867) was a Liverpool based civil engineer, surveyor, and malcontent active in the middle part of the 19th century. Gage was born in 1788 in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England. Seeking greater economic opportunity, he moved to Liverpool in 1811, where he established himself as a tailor and joined the Masonic Grand Lodge, quickly becoming a prominent figure in that society. Gage is best known today for leading a rebellion within the Liverpool Masonic Lodge community. The root of the rebellion was discontent with the dominance of the lodge by noblemen based in London. Gage and his compatriots, who were generally of the working and merchant class, felt disenfranchised and established a rival lodge in Wigan. Although initially successful, Gage soon fell out with the administration of the rebel Wigan Lodge and abandoned Freemasonry altogether, instead launching a new career in civil engineer. In 1835-36, he embarked upon an aggressive plan to resurvey Liverpool, producing in the process, the finest large-format map of Liverpool of the 19th century. Around 1840, having become a prominent Liverpool citizen, Gage began to engage in politics. As a politician and civil engineer Gage vehemently opposed the Rivington Pike plan to increase the city's limited fresh water supply. Gage was elected to the Council of the Confederation, which he used to continue his opposition to the Rivington Pike Waterworks Plan. Ultimately, he resorted to presenting a fraudulent anti-Rivington petition to the council. The fraud was discovered and Gage was committed to London's Newgate prison for a fortnight. By the time her prison term ended, he was deep in debt and by October of 1851, filed for bankruptcy. In 1852 he made a second attempt to establish himself as a surveyor, completing another less well received map of Liverpool docks. Gage died in 1867. He was survived by his son of the same name, also a Civil Engineer. More by this mapmaker...

Thomas Starling (December 24, 1796 - June 15, 1850) was and English line engraver and map publisher based in London during first half of the 19th century. Starling was born in Islington and apprenticed as a stationer in 1811. He was in business for himself as early as 1818, from which time a surviving trade card (Bl 188.v.26) survives at the British Library. By 1824 he was in bankruptcy courts. He recovered somewhat, issuing the small format 1833 Family Cabinet Atlas and engraving Michael Alexander Gage's large format plan of Liverpool. Sterling was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1833. He died in Essex in 1850. Learn More...