Sir John Dineley-Goodere, 5th Baronet (1729–1809) was an English

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. He was the second of twin sons of Samuel Goodere, an officer in the British

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, by his wife Elizabeth Watts. Samuel Goodere was convicted and hanged for the murder of his elder brother Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet in 1741. The elder of the twins, Edward, succeeded as the next of the Goodere baronets, but died insane and unmarried in March 1761, aged 32. On his elder brother's death, John inherited the baronetcy, but what little remained of the family estates he soon wasted; around 1770 he sold his estate at Burhope,

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to Sir James Peachey (created Lord Selsey in 1794), and he lived for a time in a state bordering on destitution. At length his friendship with the Pelhams, coupled with the interest of

Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the ...

, procured for him the pension and residence of a poor knight of Windsor. Henceforward he seems to have used the surname of Dineley only. He rendered himself conspicuous by the oddity of his dress, demeanour, and mode of life. He became one of the chief sights of

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. Very early each morning he locked up his house in

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, which no one entered but himself, and went forth to purchase provisions. Specimens of these marriage proposals, printed after the rudest fashion with the author's own hands, are given in

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's ''Romance of the Aristocracy''Volume II, pages 23–25, published 1855 Occasionally he advertised for wives in the newspapers. He also printed some extraordinary rhymes under the title of "Methods to get Husbands. Measure in words and syllables ... With the advertised marriage offer of Sir John Dineley, Bart., of Charleton, near Worcester, extending to 375,000l., to the Reader of this Epistle, if a single lady, and has above One Hundred Guineas fortune." A copy survives in the

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. Burke states that though undoubtedly a monomaniac, in other matters Dineley was both sane and shrewd. Two or three times a year he visited

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and the theatres, taking care to apprise the public of his intention through the medium of the most fashionable daily papers. Wherever he went the place was invariably well attended, especially by women. Dineley persevered in his addresses to the ladies till the very close of his life, but without success. He died at Windsor in November 1809, aged about eighty. At his decease the baronetcy became extinct.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodere, John Dineley, 5th Baronet 1729 births 1809 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Military Knights of Windsor