William Henry Goddard (6 February 1795 – 16 December 1872) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
merchant who traded in the
Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
in the early 19th century.
Goddard was born in
Nunton
Nunton is a small village and former civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about southeast of Salisbury. The former parish included the small village of Bodenham, to the east.
Nunton is on the River Ebble, while Bodenham is close to the juncti ...
,
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, and was a teenager when he first arrived in Gambia. He married a local woman, Ellen Casteign (or Castaign), and they had two daughters. From 1819 they lived in the town of Bathurst (now
), where Goddard and another British trader, Charles Grant, had a
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
export business. Goddard and Grant were among the first British settlers in the country.
Goddard was a member of the Legislative Council from 1843, and in 1860 he set up the Gambia Trading Company. His nephews, William and Alfred, came to Gambia to work for him.
In 1862, Goddard retired to Britain; he died, aged 77, in 1872 in Hampstead. His nephew William took over the company after his death.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, William Henry
1795 births
1872 deaths
English merchants
People from Wiltshire
19th-century English businesspeople