Sir William Godolphin, 1st Baronet (c. 1640 – 27 August 1710), of Godolphin in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, was an English land owner, politician, and

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 of ...

. He was the eldest son of Sir Francis Godolphin, KB, who had been a Member of Parliament until being barred from sitting because of his

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 ...

sympathies during the

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, and who after the

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was knighted in reward for his loyalty. Probably also in token of Sir Francis's services, William was created a baronet on 29 April 1661. He represented the family borough of

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map shee ...

in Parliament from 1665 until 1679, but his career was overshadowed by that of his younger brother, Sidney, who rose to be

First Lord of the Treasury The first lord of the Treasury is the head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom, and is by convention also the prime minister. This office is not equivalent to the ...

and was granted a peerage and later an earldom; another brother,

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

, took holy orders and ended as

Dean of St Paul's The dean of St Paul's is a member of, and chair of the Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in London in the Church of England. The dean of St Paul's is also ''ex officio'' dean of the Order of the British Empire. The current dean is Andrew Tremlett, ...

and

Provost of Eton Provost may refer to: People * Provost (name), a surname Officials Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent of a mayor in Scotland * Lord provost, the equivalent of a lord mayor in Scotland Militar ...

. Sir William died unmarried, and the family estates passed to his brother.

References

* * ''Burke's Extinct Peerage'' (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831

*D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) , - 1640s births 1710 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England English MPs 1661–1679 Year of birth uncertain Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall People from Breage, Cornwall

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Governors of the Isles of Scilly {{17thC-England-MP-stub