William Cage (died 4 November 1645) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

variously between 1614 and 1645. He supported the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Cage was the eldest son of Edward Cage of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

(d. 1607) and his wife Beatrix (d. 1631), previously the wife of Thomas Wood.British Listed Building - Church of St Mary Burstall
/ref> He was a portman of Ipswich and seven times bailiff of the town. Cage was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

in 1614, 1621, 1624, 1625 and 1626. Elected again in 1628, he held the seat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule for eleven years without parliament. He was then re-elected for the Short Parliament in April 1640 and the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

in November 1640, holding the seat until his death. Cage had a country house at Burstall, Suffolk with an estate considered at about £300 per annum. The Manors of Suffolk Little Belstead
/ref> He was "reputed a wise man".Suffolk History - The History of Suffolk from the Long Parliament to the Revolution
/ref> He died in 1645 and was buried in the church at Burstall. Cage's daughter Elizabeth married Thomas Blosse and their son Thomas inherited the estate at Burstall.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cage, William 1575 births 1645 deaths Roundheads Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Ipswich English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648