Sir William Duncan Godfrey, 3rd Baronet (1797–1873) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and landowner. Sir William Godfrey was born at Kilcolman Abbey, Milltown on the family estate in County Kerry,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He was the son of Sir John Godfrey, 2nd Baronet. He was sent to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for his education, attending

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

. He subsequently studied at an academy in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, before embarking on the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

.John Knightly, ''The Godfrey Estate During the Great Famine'' http://www.kerryhistory.ie/documents/5.%20Godfrey.pdf (Accessed 25 February 2014), 125 Despite his cosmopolitan upbringing, Godfrey returned to Ireland following his travels in Europe, and remained in County Kerry for most of his life. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1822 and became a captain of the Milltown Infantry contingent in 1824. He was sworn in 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 1829. At the insistence of his friend, Valentine Browne, 2nd Earl of Kenmare, Godfrey was made a Deputy Lieutenant for Kerry in 1832. Throughout the 1830s, Sir William Godfrey managed the estates of both his brother-in-law, John Coltsmann of Flesk Castle and that of his cousin, Arthur Blennerhassett of Ballyseedy. He was an avid farmer, and unlike many Anglo-Irish landowners, he took a keen interest in his estate and tenants. He was recognised by the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland for his promotion and use of advanced farming techniques. Politically, Godfrey aligned himself with the liberal wing of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, although he never stood for elected office. He was known to be sympathetic towards

Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

. During the

Irish famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...

of the 1840s, Godfrey organised and chaired several local relief committees. In May 1846, Sir William purchased a large quantity of Indian meal to bridge the period before the first potato crops became available. He lobbied the government in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on numerous occasions, warning in October 1846 that, "the people have endured their wants & privations with resignation and patience but if employment and relief are delayed much longer, the peace & tranquillity of this district must be seriously endangered." Godfrey was a stalwart and committed supporter of the established Anglican

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

although his wife, Mary Teresa, was a devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. The couple had ten children and in a family compromise, the boys were raised as Anglicans and the girls as Roman Catholics. He was succeeded in his title by his eldest son, John Fermor Godfrey. In 1850, in

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 ...

, Godfrey's daughter Christina married Richard Wood, British consul in Damascus, and their descendants include the Wheler baronets.''

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Bri ...

'', volume 3 (Burke's Peerage Ltd., 2003), p. 4148

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey, Sir William 1797 births 1873 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London High Sheriffs of Kerry 19th-century Anglo-Irish people Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland