Stephen Peter Godin (24 March 1707 – 15 March 1787) was an English insurance broker in the City of London and a land-owner in Middlesex. He acquired Cullands Grove in Southgate in what is now north London and may have built the first house on the land. He played an active part in public life and was an officer of a number of charitable organisations.
Early life and family
Stephen Godin was born around 1707 to Stephen Peter Godin (died 1729), a Huguenot merchant in London, and his wife Sussana Godin (née Atterbury).Bouwens, L.H. & B.G. (1935 ''A Thousand Ancestors''. shfordp. 60.
According to family records published in ''The Genealogist'' in 1912, he married Rebecca Noortwyck in Wanstead on 15 June 1731. They were married for 42 years, until his wife's death on 8 March 1774. They had 12 children, 5 sons and 7 daughters; all of the sons and several of the daughters died young.
Four daughters survived and married, three to merchants of the
Russia Company
The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company russian: Московская компания, Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint s ...
. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth Godin, married John Shiffner. Stephen's fourth daughter, Jane Godin, married
Godfrey Thornton
Godfrey Thornton was Governor of the Bank of England from 1793 to 1795. He had been Deputy Governor from 1791 to 1793. He replaced Samuel Bosanquet as Governor and was succeeded by Daniel Giles.Governor of the Bank of England; one of their sons was William Astell.
Stephen's second daughter Susanna Godin (1735–1801) married John Cornwall, and three of their daughters married notable husbands: Susan Cornwall married Samuel Heywood in 1781, and Rebecca and Eleanor Cornwall married John Simeon, later 1st Baronet, and
Peter Thellusson
Peter eThellusson (27 June 1735 — 21 July 1797) was a Genevan businessman and banker who settled in London, and became a British subject in 1762. He amassed a fortune through commerce and, when he died in 1797, he owned more than 4,000 acres of ...
James Carmichael-Smyth
Major-general (United Kingdom), Major-General Sir James Carmichael-Smyth, 1st Baronet, (22 February 17794 March 1838) was a British Army officer and colonial Administrator of the Government, administrator.
Biography Early life and family
Carm ...
philanthropy
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
and the role he played in public life. In 1760 he was a steward of the London Hospital, Mile End Road, a member of the committee of the Society for the British Troops, and a steward of
Magdalen House for Reception of Penitent Prostitutes
Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house "fallen women". The term referred to femal ...
Godin died on 15 March 1787 at Southgate and was buried at
St Peter le Poer
St Peter le Poer was a parish church on the west side of Broad Street in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt in 1540, and again in 1792 to a design by Jesse Gibson with a circular nave. It was demolished in 1907.
Early histor ...