Sir William Godolphin (1567–1613), of Godolphin in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, was an English knight, soldier, and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1604 to 1611.

Biography

Godolphin was the older son of Sir Francis Godolphin (1540–1608), also an MP and Governor of the Scilly Isles and his first wife, Margaret Killigrew of Arwenack. He matriculated at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

in 1585 and was admitted at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

on 29 January 1587. He accompanied the

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

in his military expedition of 1599–1600 to Ireland, and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

on 13 July 1599 for his gallantry in an action at

Arklow Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the Battle of Arklow, bloodiest battles ...

. He was subsequently put in command of a brigade of cavalry, and he was credited with playing an important part in the victory at the

Siege of Kinsale The siege of Kinsale (), also known as the battle of Kinsale, was the ultimate battle in England's conquest of Gaelic Ireland, commencing in October 1601, near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and at the climax of the Nine Years' War� ...

on 24 December 1601, when his troops broke through the enemy line and captured the Spanish commander.Brown, Alexander. ''The Genesis of the United States: A Narrative of the Movement in England, 1605-1616, which Resulted in the Plantation of North America by Englishmen,...'', Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1890, p. 898
/ref> For his services, he was highly commended by the Crown, and made a member of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. Godolphin was Member of Parliament (MP) for

in the first parliament of

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

from 1604 to 1611, and was regarded as a reliable supporter of Crown policy. He was Lieutenant-governor of the Scilly Isles from 1597, becoming full Governor on the death of his father in 1608 until his own death in 1613.

Search for metal ores

Godolphin went to Carlisle to meet the prospectors George Bowes and Bevis Bulmer in November 1603. In August 1608, King James sent him to Scotland to report on a promising new silver mine at Hilderston near

Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...

.Maurice Lee, ''Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603-1624'' (Rutgers UP, 1972), p. 106.

Marriage

He married Thomasine, the only surviving daughter and heiress of Thomas Sidney of Wighton,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and his wife Mary Southwell of Sydmondham Hall (whose third husband was the distinguished soldier Sir Conyers Clifford) and had 3 sons and a daughter.

Death

In the summer of 1613, when he was at the height of his political influence, Godolphin became seriously ill and died in early September. He was buried at Breage, Cornwall September 5, 1613.

Family

Godolphin's children included: * Sir Francis Godolphin, KB (1605–1667), his heir * Sidney Godolphin (1610–1643), the poet * William Godolphin (1611–1636), who first succeeded his father as Governor of Scilly * Penelope Godolphin, who married

Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge (14 December 1599 – 12 June 1668) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1668. He supported the Cavaliers, Royalist ca ...

Notes

Ancestry

References

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