Sir William Godfrey, 1st Baronet (1739 – 1817) was an Anglo-Irish member of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

. Godfrey was the son of John Godfrey, Esquire and Barbara, the daughter of Reverend Hathway. He was a great-grandson of Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby and his family owned a sizeable estate in County Kerry. He served as

High Sheriff of Kerry The High Sheriff of Kerry was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Kerry, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Kerry County Sheriff. The sheri ...

in 1780. He was

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

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

between 1785 and 1790. On 17 June 1785, he was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

, of Bushfield in County Kerry. He subsequently served as MP for

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

between 1792 and 1797. Godfrey rebuilt the family home at Bushfield House near

Milltown, County Kerry Milltown () is a small town on the N70 national secondary road between the major towns of Tralee and Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. It is approximately from Killorglin. Prehistory In July 2015, a neothilic tomb at Killaclohane near Millt ...

, renaming it Kicolman Abbey in reference to the family's ownership of

Killagha Abbey Killagha Abbey of Our Lady of Bello Loco, also called Kilcolman Abbey, is a ruined Augustinian abbey and former manor house in County Kerry, Ireland. The abbey is situated one and a half miles north-west of Milltown on the banks of the River Ma ...

. Godfrey married Agnes, the only daughter of William Blennerhassett, on 15 August 1761. Together they had nine children. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, John.John Knightly, ''The Godfrey Estate During the Great Famine'' http://www.kerryhistory.ie/documents/5.%20Godfrey.pdf (Accessed 25 February 2014), 125-149

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey, Sir William 1739 births 1817 deaths Politicians from County Kerry Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kerry constituencies Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Belfast People from Milltown, County Kerry