George Goring, Lord Goring (14 July 1608 – 1657) was an English
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
soldier. He was known by the
courtesy title
A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title).
In some co ...
''Lord Goring'' as the eldest son of the
first Earl of Norwich.
Early life
![GoringArms](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/GoringArms.svg)
Goring, the eldest son of
George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich
George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich (28 April 1585 – 6 January 1663) was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1628 when he was raised to the peerage.
Goring was the son of George Goring of Hurstp ...
, was born on 14 July 1608.
He married Lettice Boyle, the daughter of
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland.
Lord Cork was an important figure in the continuing ...
.
Experience before the Civil Wars
His father-in-law,
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland.
Lord Cork was an important figure in the continuing ...
, procured for him a post in the
Dutch Army
The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...
with the rank of colonel. He was permanently lamed by a wound received at the
Siege of Breda in 1637, and returned to England early in 1639, when he was made governor of
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
.
He served in the
Bishops' Wars
The 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars () were the first of the conflicts known collectively as the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which took place in Scotland, England and Ireland. Others include the Irish Confederate Wars, the First and ...
, and already had a considerable reputation when he was involved in the "
Army Plot" (1641). Officers of the army stationed at
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
proposed to petition the king and parliament for the maintenance of the royal
authority
In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''The N ...
. A second party was in favour of more violent measures, and Goring, in the hope of being appointed lieutenant-general, proposed to march the army on London and overawe the
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
during
Strafford's trial (1641). This proposition being rejected by his fellow-officers, he betrayed the proceedings to
Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport
Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport, to 12 February 1666, was an English courtier and politician, who held a number of positions under Charles I of England and supported the Royalists in the First English Civil War.
Personal details
Mountjoy ...
, who passed on the information indirectly to
John Pym
John Pym (20 May 1584 – 8 December 1643) was an English politician, who helped establish the foundations of Parliamentary democracy. One of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War, his use ...
in April.
Lieutenant-General of Horse
Colonel Goring was there upon called on to give evidence before the
Commons
The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...
, who commended him for his services to the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
. This betrayal of his comrades induced confidence in the minds of the parliamentary leaders, who sent him back to his Portsmouth command. Nevertheless he declared for the king in August. He surrendered Portsmouth to the parliament in September 1642 after the
Siege of Portsmouth
The siege of Portsmouth was the siege of a Royalist garrison in Portsmouth by a Parliamentarian force conducted in the early part of the First English Civil War. The siege resulted in Portsmouth falling to Parliament after a little under a ...
and went to the Netherlands to recruit for the Royalist army, returning to England in December. Appointed to a cavalry command by the
Earl of Newcastle
Earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1623 in favour of Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. He was made Duke of Richmond at the same time. For information on thi ...
, he defeated
Fairfax at
Seacroft Moor near
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
in March 1643, but in May he was taken prisoner at
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
on the capture of the town by Fairfax. In April 1644 he effected an exchange.
At the
Battle of Marston Moor
The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639 – 1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters und ...
, Goring commanded the Royalist left, and charged with great success, but, allowing his troopers to disperse in search of plunder, was routed by
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
at the close of the battle. In November 1644, on his father's elevation to the earldom of Norwich, he became Lord Goring. The parliamentary authorities, however, refused to recognize the creation of the earldom, and continued to speak of the father as "Lord Goring" and the son as "General Goring".
In August Goring had been dispatched by
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...
, who recognized his ability, to join
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
in the south, and in spite of his dissolute and insubordinate character he was appointed to supersede
Henry, Lord Wilmot, as lieutenant-general of the Royalist horse. He secured some successes in the west, and in January 1645 advanced through
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
and occupied
Farnham
Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...
; but want of money compelled him to retreat to
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
and thence to
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
. The excesses committed by his troops seriously injured the Royalist cause, and his exactions made his name hated throughout the west.
He had himself prepared to besiege
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
in March 1645, yet when in the next month he was desired by Prince
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
, who was at
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, to send reinforcements to
Sir Richard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently ...
for the
siege of Taunton
The sieges of Taunton were a series of three blockades during the First English Civil War. The town of Taunton, in Somerset, was considered to be of strategic importance because it controlled the main road from Bristol to Devon and Cornwall. R ...
, he obeyed the order only with ill-humour. Later in April 1645 he was summoned with his troops to the relief of the king at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Lord Goring had long been intriguing for an independent command, and he now secured from the king what was practically supreme authority in the west. It was alleged by the Earl of Newport that he was willing to transfer his allegiance once more to the parliament. It is not likely that he meditated open
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, but he was culpably negligent and occupied with private ambitions and jealousies. He was still engaged in desultory operations against Taunton when the main campaign of 1645 opened.
For the part taken by Goring's army in the operations of the
Naseby
Naseby is a village in West Northamptonshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 687.
The village is 14 mi (22.5 km) north of Northampton, 13.3 mi (21.4 km) northeast of Daventry, and 7&nb ...
campaign see
First English Civil War: Naseby Campaign. After the decisive defeat of the king, the army of Fairfax marched into the west and defeated Goring in a disastrous fight at
Langport
Langport is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, west of Somerton in the South Somerset district. The parish, which covers only part of the town, has a population of 1,081. Langport is contiguous with Huish Episcopi, a separate ...
on 10 July 1645. He made no further serious resistance to the parliamentary general, but wasted his time in frivolous amusements.
Exile and command in Spain
In November 1645 he obtained leave to quit his disorganized forces and retire to France on the ground of health. His father's services secured him the command of some English regiments in the Spanish service. He died in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
after converting to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(in the care of the Jesuits) in July or August 1657.
Character assessment
Clarendon says of Goring that he "would, without hesitation, have broken any trust, or done any act of treachery to have satisfied an ordinary passion or appetite; and in truth wanted nothing but industry (for he had wit, and courage, and understanding and ambition, uncontrolled by any fear of God or man) to have been as eminent and successful in the highest attempt of wickedness as any man in the age he lived in or before. Of all his qualifications dissimulation was his masterpiece; in which he so much excelled, that men were not ordinarily ashamed, or out of countenance, with being deceived but twice by him". Clarendon's assessment according to Florene Memegalos is untrustworthy as he appears to have blackened his name at court for personal reasons. Florene Memegalos also asserts from archive material in the Venice State records and other sources, that George Goring's reputation stood mainly on his military abilities as a Royalist general and not just on Clarendon's all too obvious character assassination of him.
[Memegalos.]
Notes
References
* This work in turn cites:
**
**
Dugdale's ''Baronage'', where there are some doubtful stories of his life in Spain
**''Clarendon State Papers''
**
Lord Clarendon
Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776.
The family seat is Holywell House, near Swanmore, Hampshire.
First creation of the title
The title was created for the first time in the Peera ...
, ''History of the Great Rebellion''
**
Samuel Rawson Gardiner, ''History of the Great Civil War''
*Memegalos, Florene S. ''George Goring (1608-1657): Caroline Courtier and Royalist General''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goring, George Goring, Lord
1608 births
1657 deaths
English generals
English expatriates in Spain
Cavaliers
Heirs apparent who never acceded
British courtesy barons and lords of Parliament
Royalist military personnel of the English Civil War
English Roman Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism