Constituency Dates
Helston 1741 – 1761
Family and Education
bap. 2 Nov. 1706, 1st surv. s. of Henry Godolphin, D.D., provost of Eton and dean of St. Paul’s (bro. of Sidney Godolphin, M.P., 1st Earl of Godolphin, ld. treasurer), by Mary, da. of Sidney Godolphin of Thames Ditton, Surr., gov. of Scilly Isles. educ. Eton 1718-21; Queen’s, Oxf. 1723. m. (1) 18 Feb. 1734, Lady Barbara Bentinck (d. 13 Apr. 1736), da. of William, 1st Earl of Portland, s.p.; (2) 28 May 1747, Lady Anne Fitzwilliam, da. of John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam [I], s.p. suc. fa. 1733; cos. as 2nd Baron Godolphin 17 Jan. 1766.
Offices Held

Lt. gov. Scilly Isles 1739 – 66, gov. 1766 – d.; recorder, Helston 1766 – d.

Address
Main residence: Baylis, Bucks.
biography text

Godolphin was heir to his cousin Francis, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, and to the barony created in January 1735. George II

did not at all relish the entailing a peerage on Mr. Godolphin, who had married a daughter of Lady Portland, to whom both the King and Queen bore a most irreconcilable hatred for accepting the employment of governess to their daughters in the late reign without their consent, at the time they had been turned out of St. James’s and the education of their children, who were kept there, taken from them.1Hervey, Mems. 406.

Returned by Lord Godolphin for Helston in 1741, he voted with the Government on the chairman of the elections committee, on 16 Dec., but abstained on the Westminster election petition on the 27th.2Hartington to Devonshire, 27 Dec. 1741, Devonshire mss. After the fall of Walpole he steadily supported the Administration. He died 25 May 1785.

Author
E.C.
Volume
Commons 1715-1754
Notes
  • 1. Hervey, Mems. 406.
  • 2. Hartington to Devonshire, 27 Dec. 1741, Devonshire mss.