Francis Godolphin (1605–1667)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir Francis Godolphin MP (25 December 1605 – 22 March 1667), of Godolphin in Cornwall, was an English nobleman, landowner, politician, and Member of Parliament. His chief claim to fame is that he was the dedicatee of Hobbes' ''Leviathan''.


Origins

Godolphin was the eldest son of Sir William Godolphin (1567–1613) and Thomasine Sidney (1581–24 April 1612)Ancestry.com. ''Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000–2015'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. and brother of the poet
Sidney Godolphin Sidney Godolphin is the name of: * Sidney Godolphin (colonel) (1652–1732), Member of Parliament for fifty years * Sidney Godolphin (poet) (1610–1643), English poet * Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin (c. 1640–1712), leading British poli ...
, both of whom were also members of Parliament. He succeeded his father in 1613, inheriting estates which included the lease of the
Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
.


Career

He represented
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 the Parliament of 1625–6, again in the
Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
and was appointed
High Sheriff of Cornwall Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list: The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriffs of all other English counties, ot ...
in 1638. Being a
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 ...
, when the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
broke out he returned to Cornwall, where he secured the Scilly Isles for the King and raised a regiment of which his brother, William, took command. In consequence, he was disbarred from sitting in Parliament in January 1644, and his estates were sequestered. However, after the capture of the
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
he negotiated an honourable capitulation of the Scilly Isles to Parliament, the House of Commons voting "that Mr Godolphin, governor of Scilly, upon his surrender of that island, with all forts &c, should enjoy his estate and be free from arrest for any acts of war". He was elected once more for Helston in the Convention Parliament of 1660, and following the
Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
he was knighted at Charles II's coronation. He died in 1667.


Marriage

Sir Francis married Dorothy Berkeley, a daughter of Sir Henry Berkeley of Yarlington in Somerset, MP for Ilchester, by whom he had numerous children, including: *
Sir William Godolphin, 1st Baronet Sir William Godolphin, 1st Baronet (c. 1640 – 27 August 1710), of Godolphin in Cornwall, was an English land owner, politician, and Member of Parliament. He was the eldest son of Sir Francis Godolphin, KB, who had been a Member of Parliament ...
(c. 1640 – 1710), eldest son and heir, member of parliament for Helston from 1665 to 1679, created a baronet in 1661. *Francis Godolphin (died 1675),
auditor of the imprests Auditor of the Imprests was a profitable office of the Exchequer, responsible for auditing the accounts of officers of the English crown to whom money was issued for government expenditure, from 1559 to 1785. Foundation Prior to 1559 this duty was ...
. * Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin (1645–1712), First Lord of the Treasury and Secretary of State, who was also a Member of Parliament for Helston and St Mawes, created a peer in 1684 and Earl of Godolphin in 1706. *Dr
Henry Godolphin Henry Godolphin (1648–1733) was a Provost of Eton College and Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, a position in which he clashed with Sir Christopher Wren in the period when the new cathedral had reached the finishing touches. Life He wa ...
, Dean of St Paul's and Provost of Eton College. *Elizabeth Godolphin (died 30 August 1707), eldest daughter, second wife of Sir Arthur Northcote, 2nd Baronet (1628–1688), of Hayne, Newton St Cyres and King's Nympton Park, King's Nympton, Devon. She was the mother of the 3rd and 4th Baronets and founding mother of the Earls of Iddesleigh. The stone ledger with an inscription to her husband and herself exists in King's Nympton Church, where both were buried. *Ursula Godolphin (born 1643), second daughter, who married John Crudge, with whom she had a son William Crudge (c. 1660 – c. 1720) *Jael Godolphin, third daughter, who married Edward Boscawen (1628–1685) of Cornwall, MP.


Footnotes


Ancestry


References

*D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) *''Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803'' (London: Thomas Hansard, 180

* * ''Burke's Extinct Peerage'' (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 183

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Godolphin, Francis 1605 births 1667 deaths Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall High Sheriffs of Cornwall
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...
English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660