The Gages of Hengrave and Suffolk Catholicism, 1640–1767 follows in the footsteps of previous publications for the Catholic Record Society’s monograph series in providing a comprehensive examination of post Reformation Catholicism. It is well researched and builds upon previous work by Francis Young on Catholicism in East Anglia including ‘The Bishop’s Palace at Ely as a Prison for Recusants, 1577–1597’, Recusant History 32 (2014) and ‘Papists and Non-jurors in the Isle of Ely, 1559–1745’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 104 (2015). The volume would therefore be of interest to historians of East Anglia as well as those concerned with the history of Catholicism.

The central premise of the book is asserted in the opening paragraph, namely that Catholic history is essentially family history. The family of the Gages are central to this volume, as would be expected, but equally kinship networking common to early modern society is seen extensively in action in this account of East Anglia. This study draws in other families such as the Rookwoods, Darcys and Kytsons who were fellow recusants, and also conformists such as the Herveys, Springs and Jermyns. The books also places the Gages, later to be the Rookwood-Gages, in the context of wider Suffolk gentry networks.

The book covers a period from the mid seventeenth century through to eighteenth century; this excludes the more frequently examined eras of the Tudor and early-Stuart eras but widens the study to cover the later periods of Civil War and revolution. The structure is largely chronological and takes the reader through the successive phases of the family’s life. The Gages themselves were gentry but the examination of local society also draws in those who fell within their orbit from other social groupings. The societal interactions of the period also involve conformists of the lower social groups, and analysis of these relationships could perhaps have been further developed to allow for a wider discussion of the nature of community, toleration and interaction in the periods covered by the volume.

The first main chapter concentrates on the Civil War and interregnum periods. The initial focus is on two women, Mary Kytson who was a Church papist and her daughter Penelope Darcy, whose children by John Gage went on to form the family at the heart of the study. The regional nature of the study is important here, in setting the scene for high sequestration fines in a county where there was an abundance of rich agricultural land and an efficient administrative structure for collecting financial penalties. The second chapter takes the story of the Gages from Restoration to Revolution. Here the acquisition of Edward Gage of a baronetcy and the expansion of his family, consisting of twelve children and wider kinship networks, allows for a complex outline of family politics on a local level. Young advocates that Sir Edward Gage was a ‘county’ rather than ‘court’ Catholic during this era, yet this does not prevent a cataloguing of national politics due to the proximity of James II’s county lands to the Gage estate. This chapter also draws on more distant relatives, such as the Jesuit Edward Petre, to discuss the nature of English Catholicism and the struggles for control which were a feature of the late seventeenth century.

Chapter three takes the study on to the period after the 1688 Revolution. Sir William Gage was a conformist and Parliamentarian and the chapter discusses the implication of conformity as well as the fates of those who remained recusant. Estate management, kinship networks and financial controversies are catalogued alongside religion. Though it is clear that the evidence available for this era is more piecemeal and Young notes that this era is a ‘comparatively dark one’ the chapter throws further light on the Gage family and their kin. The Rookwoods’ commitment to Catholicism in this era allows toleration and exile to form points of discussion.

Chapter four concentrates on the establishment of the Benedictine mission, 1727–41, and Young argues that this era saw a broadening out from a gentry centred mission to incorporate a wider community. This theme is also the main premise of the last chapter which covers 1741–67, entitled ‘Gentry Chaplaincy to Proto-Parish’. Again these chapters give a great deal of detail regarding the births, marriages and deaths of the Gages and their associated kin alongside a discussion of the national and international picture of Catholicism. Both chapters discuss local attempts to fund, influence and perhaps even control the development of Catholicism in the East Anglian region, alongside international concerns regarding the Jesuit mission. The nature of the Catholic community is discussed and its expansion explained. Here it may have been good to see a little more on the interaction with the wider community to give a fuller picture of the nature of accommodation and resistance. The volume also contains numerous appendices which contain primary source material which will be extremely valuable to scholars of the local area, and also those researching Catholicism more widely.

In short this volume is well researched and full of rich and complex detail. At times the argument does become a little lost amongst this intricacy, but there is a clear attempt to place the Gages into a national and international picture. Given current historiographical trends regarding the interaction of Catholics with their conformist kin it would have been nice to see material on the conformist members of the family and other supporters in local society drawn out a little more. The material here gives a sense of the techniques used by Catholic families to traverse difficult times and the chronological expanse of the study is impressive, as the author paints a detailed picture of the complexities of East Anglian society.