Robert Bage

Robert Bage, the son of a paper manufacturer, was born in Darley, Derbyshire, where he was baptised on 28 February, 1728. His mother died shortly after his birth, and Bage lost the first of his stepmothers (his father eventually married four times) in 1732. According to his lifelong friend William Hutton, Bage was an intellectually precocious child who had, by the age of seven, impressed the neighbourhood by his abilities in Latin, and who later taught himself French, Italian and music. Late in life, Hutton also recalled that his own father had used Bage’s accomplishments as an example to encourage Hutton’s industry. Bage followed his father’s trade, and after his marriage to Elizabeth Woolley of Mickleover in 1751, he