William Godolphin (1567–1613)

Sir William Godolphin MP
Portrait of Sir William Godolphin attributed to Peter Lely
Born	1567
Died	1613
Nationality	English
Occupation	Soldier, Knight, Politician
Title	Sir
Spouse(s)	Thomasine Sidney
Children	4 (including Sir Francis Godolphin (1605–1667) and Sidney Godolphin)
Parent(s)	Sir Francis Godolphin (1540–1608) Margaret Killigrew

Sir William Godolphin MP (1567−1613), of Godolphin in Cornwall, was an English knight, soldier, knight, and politician who sat in the House of Commons 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. He matriculated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1585 and was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on 29 January 1587.^[1]

He accompanied the Earl of Essex in his military expedition of 1599–1600 to Ireland, and was knighted on 13 July 1599 for his gallantry in an action at Arklow. He was subsequently put in command of a brigade of cavalry, and he was credited with playing an important part in victory at the Siege of Kinsale on 24 December 1601, when his troops broke through the enemy line and captured the Spanish commander.

Godolphin was Member of Parliament (MP) for Cornwall in the first parliament of James I from 1604 to 1611.^[2]

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.^[3]

He had married Thomasine, the daughter and heiress of Thomas Sidney of Wighton, Norfolk and had 3 sons and a daughter.

Family

Godolphin's children included:^[4]

• Sir Francis Godolphin, KB (1605–1667), his heir
• Sidney Godolphin (1610–1643), the poet
• William Godolphin, who first succeeded his father as Governor of Scilly
• Penelope Godolphin, who married Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge

Notes

Ancestry

References

• Burke, John; Burke, Sir Bernard (1841). A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland (2 ed.). Scott, Webster, and Geary. p. 220.
• Willis, Browne (1750). "First Parliament of Westminster, Anno I James I, 1603". Notitia parliamentaria, or, An history of the counties, cities, and boroughs in England and Wales: ... The whole extracted from mss. and printed evidences. R. Gosling,. pp. 156–166.

Further reading

• Godolphin family tree
• Brunton, D.; Pennington, D H. (1954). Members of the Long Parliament. London: George Allen & Unwin.