Background
Gorges was born in 1618 to Henry Gorges of Batcombe, Somerset and his wife Barbara Baynard, daughter of Thomas Baynard of Colerne, Wiltshire.
Gorges was born in 1618 to Henry Gorges of Batcombe, Somerset and his wife Barbara Baynard, daughter of Thomas Baynard of Colerne, Wiltshire.
He was a colonial governor of the Province of Maine from 1640 to 1643 and served as an officer in the Parliamentary Army during the English Civil War. He was a student of Lincoln"s Inn in 1638. The province was at the time a small number of sparsely populated communities in present-day southern Maine.
Gorges was responsible for establishing a stable government in Maine, something his relative William had been unable to do a few years earlier.
Gorges" success at governance was somewhat short-lived. He departed the province in 1643 to fight in the English Civil War, and the province was eventually absorbed into Massachusetts, which also made territorial claims to the area.
Upon his return to England, Gorges supported the Parliamentary cause. He resumed his law study and was called to the bar in 1649.
He succeeded his father in 1649 and became a justice of the peace in the same year.
In 1650, he was a lieutenant colonel the Somerset cavalry. He was responsible for raising funds and materials in Somerset to support Cromwell"s war with Spain. By 1655 he was recorder of Taunton.
In 1656 he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Taunton in the Second Protectorate Parliament and was returned again in 1659 for the Third Protectorate Parliament.
He was elected Member of Parliament for Taunton again in 1660 for the Convention Parliament. He was deprived of his recordership in 1662 when the commissioners dissolved Taunton corporation.
Gorges died at home in Heavitree, Exeter at the age of about 52, complaining few and "evil have been my days". Gorges was twice married.
She died on 14 April 1671.
He was elected Member of Parliament for Taunton in 1654 for the First Protectorate Parliament.