GORING, George (1585-1663)

The Goring family has been traced back to the reign of Edward I. They may well have originated in the manor of Goring in west Sussex, although they did not become owners of that manor until the mid sixteenth century, by which time they had long been resident at Burton, in the same county. The Gorings first entered Parliament when a member of the family represented Sussex in the Commons in 1467.48 J. R. Mousley, ‘Suss. Country Gentry in the Reign of Eliz.’ (London Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1956), 541; OR. The grandfather of the subject of this biography, George Goring^‡, was a younger son who became receiver general of the Court of Wards in 1584, by which date he had already made large purchases of land, including, two years previously, a house at Danny Park. He started to enlarge and rebuild this house but died in 1594, before the work was completed. Thereafter it was found that he owed the Court of Wards nearly £20,000 on his accounts as receiver. The estate was subsequently seized by the crown, and only a small income was allowed to Goring’s father, who, nevertheless, managed to secure a place at court as a gentleman pensioner.49 Danny Archives, pp. xii-xiii.

Goring’s early life was consequently overshadowed by the spectre of debt. His only escape lay in a career at court, but as that required heavy expenditure further debt was a constant risk. Writing to Thomas Wentworth^*, Viscount Wentworth (subsequently 1st earl of Strafford) in 1633, Goring recalled that on his father’s death in 1602 the repayment of the debts he had inherited exceeded the income from his estate by £500 per annum. However, he had managed to maintain his ‘poor fortune … by God’s goodness and my royal master’s favours … through so many heats and colds’. Nevertheless, he still had ‘much ado to hold up my head’.50 Sheffield Archives, WWM/StrP13/133.

Goring initially found advancement thanks to the patronage of his cousin’s husband, James Hay^*, subsequently 1st earl of Carlisle, and Thomas Howard^*, 1st earl of Suffolk. In 1616 he was appointed lieutenant of the gentleman pensioners. Following Suffolk’s disgrace two years later, Goring was obliged to transfer his allegiance to the favourite, George Villiers^*, marquess (later 1st duke) of Buckingham, on whose instructions he moved the Commons, in November 1621, for a petition to the king advocating war with Spain and a Protestant match for Prince Charles (Stuart^*, prince of Wales), thereby setting in train the events which wrecked the Parliament.51 HP Commons, 1604-29, iv. 437-9.

Goring was part of the team which negotiated the French Match in 1624-5, when he was charged with settling the arrangements for the future queen’s household; Henrietta Maria developed a lasting affection for him.52 Add. 35832, f. 187v; HMC Skrine, 5; F.S. Memegalos, George Goring (1608-57) Caroline Courtier and Royalist Gen. 38. A prominent opponent in the Commons of the impeachment proceedings against Buckingham in 1626, Goring was said to be in line for a peerage in order to strengthen the duke’s supporters in the upper House.53 HP Commons, 1604-29, iv. 440; HMC 4th Rep. 289; Yonge Diary ed. G. Roberts (Cam. Soc. xli), 92. However, he was not, in fact ennobled. Instead, after the Parliament was dissolved, he was rewarded with the post of vice chamberlain of Henrietta Maria’s household. In December 1627 Goring secured the farm of the wine licences, one of a large number of such grants he received, earning him the reputation as ‘a captain projector’. However, being normally obliged to assign his grants to his creditors, he therefore made over all the profits from the wine licences in 1632 to a trustee for payment of £24,000 of his debts. In 1636 he made a similar assignment to clear further liabilities totalling nearly £20,000.54 Coventry Docquets, 214; Secret Hist. of Ct. of Jas. I ed. W. Scott, ii. 41; SP23/94, p. 380; Sheffield Archives, WWM/StrP13/133.

In 1628 Goring was elected to the Commons for Lewes, just as he had been for the previous four parliaments. Shortly before the third Caroline Parliament met there were renewed rumours that he would be raised to the peerage, but this did not take place until April, nearly a month after the start of the session.55 Procs 1628, p. 122; Strafforde Letters (1739) ed. W. Knowler, i. 44; Holles Letters ed. P.R. Seddon (Thoroton Soc. xxxv), 377. The timing of his ennoblement suggests that he was summoned to the Lords to help defend the king’s prerogative, which Charles thought was threatened by the House of Commons’ defence of the liberties of the subject.

Goring’s writ of summons was issued on 13 Apr., the day before his patent was sealed but one day after the privy seal warrant authorizing his ennoblement was drawn up.56 HMC Lords, n.s. xi. 211; 43rd DKR, i. 100. He was formally introduced to the upper House on the 14th, assisted by two fellow Buckingham clients, Henrietta Maria’s master of the horse, Algernon Percy^*, Lord Percy (subsequently 4th earl of Northumberland) and Basil Feilding^*, Lord Newnham Paddockes (subsequently 2nd earl of Denbigh), whose mother was a prominent member of the queen’s court. However, it was not until the following day that Goring was formally recorded as attending the Lords.57 Lords Procs. 1628, p. 222; HMC Skrine, 136. In all, he attended 39 of the House’s 94 sittings. Allowing for the fact that he was not a member for the first 21 sittings, this suggests an attendance rate of 55 per cent. Despite his frequent absences, Goring was excused only once, on 24 April.58 Lords Procs. 1628, p. 339. Notes taken by two assistant clerks state that Goring assisted in the introduction of Edward Conway^*, Lord (subsequently 2nd Viscount) Conway on 23 Apr., although the clerk of the parliaments recorded that this task was performed by Lord Newnham Paddockes.59 Ibid. 334, 336.

Goring was named to six of the 32 committees established by the Lords between 14 Apr. and the end of the session, two on days when he was not recorded as present (29 May and 9 June). The first of his appointments in absentia concerned the Sackville estate bill, which concerned a fellow courtier and Sussex landowner, Edward Sackville^*, 4th earl of Dorset; the second proposed to naturalize Buckingham’s architect, Balthazar Gerbier. Goring was the first baron appointed to the committee for the estate bill of his brother-in-law, Henry Neville^*, 9th (or 2nd) Lord Abergavenny, in which he himself was named a trustee for the sale of Abergavenny’s lands. He was also appointed to the bill to confirm Henrietta Maria’s jointure. This measure was not reported, for on 23 June, Henry Hastings^*, 5th earl of Huntingdon, announced that Goring had told him that the queen did not want to proceed with it. Later that day, in obedience to an order of the House, and making his only recorded speech of the session, Goring informed the Lords that the king would send a message concerning the bill. Delivered that afternoon, it confirmed that the bill was too defective to be passed.60 Ibid. 554, 258, 261, 606, 641, 689, 694; PA, HL/PO/PB/1/1627/3C1n11.

During the session it was rumoured that Goring would be promoted to the post of chamberlain to the queen, an office vacant since 1626. In fact, this position was conferred on Dorset; Goring had instead to make do with replacing Percy as Henrietta Maria’s master of the horse. However, he managed to secure an ‘addition of a fair diet’, which John Holles^*, 1st earl of Clare, thought was ‘a husbandry very seasonable’.61 Procs. 1628, p. 210; Holles Letters ed. P.R. Seddon (Thoroton Soc. xxxvi), 386.

In the aftermath of the assassination of Buckingham in August 1628, Goring wrote repeatedly to Carlisle, then on a diplomatic mission in Italy, urging him to return home and take advantage of the new political opportunities created by the duke’s death. However, curiously, it was not until December that he made direct reference to the assassination in his correspondence to Carlisle: ‘the great and fatal blow on my lord duke did so astonish and benumb all here, as ever since there hath been scarce any passage to and fro more than mere breathings to keep life and soul together’. This was not entirely correct, however, for as early as September Goring admitted that his shock had turned to optimism, for ‘to my singular comfort I begin to see fair hopes’ that the king would ‘guide his own people himself his own way’, suggesting that he thought there would be no more favourites. He correctly predicted that the Parliament, which was due to meet in October, would be prorogued to January. His December letter was similarly prophetic. He informed Carlisle that the king’s customs and matters of religion would ‘be the main work of our approaching Parliament’. He also feared ‘that all the evil spirits are not yet laid, notwithstanding all the care and endeavour that is taken’ because ‘private ends are so desperately sheltered under those public pretences for church and commonwealth’.62 CSP Dom. 1628-9, pp. 356, 391, 413; Addenda 1625-49, pp. 294-7; SP16/123/8; 16/529/21.

Goring attended 17 of the 23 sittings of the 1629 sitting, 74 per cent of the total, but was named to only two of the upper House’s 19 committees, one for a bill for regulating apparel, the other to deliver the petition of Lords asking the king to provide support for Robert de Vere*, 19th earl of Oxford, who had inherited an ancient title but no estates. On 12 Feb. the Lords received a complaint that one of Goring’s servant’s had been arrested, whereupon the upper House ordered a writ of habeas corpus for the servant. Nine days later the upper House halted legal proceedings concerning other servants belonging to Goring in King’s Bench.63 LJ, iv. 19b, 28b, 34b, 38a. Goring made no recorded speeches that session.

In May 1629 Goring secured the reversion to the office of secretary to the council in the Marches, which at that time was held by Sir Adam Newton. The latter died early the following year, allowing Goring to take up the post, the duties of which he fulfilled by deputy.64 Coventry Docquets, 174; HMC 13th Rep. IV, 275-6. Goring claimed that this office cost him over £6,000, and evidently had to promise part of the profits to others in order to raise this money, for in July 1631 he remarked that the secretaryship would not ‘come clear to me yet these two years’. However, he did not assign the remainder of the profits towards payment of his debts. This meant that he could reasonably expect a significant increase in his disposable income would soon. Consequently, he was alarmed when it emerged, in October 1629, that one Robert Tyrwhitt had obtained a new office which threatened his profits. Goring appealed to Carlisle for help in persuading the king to reverse the grant, claiming that the secretaryship was all his family had to live on, after his debts were paid, and that the new office was illegal. In March 1631 the attorney general was commanded to revoke Tyrwhitt’s grant. However, the order was evidently not carried out as, in 1634, Tyrwhitt appointed a deputy, suggesting that Goring reached an accommodation with Tyrwhitt.65 Eg. 2597, f. 57r-v; HMC 13th Rep. IV, 276; CSP Dom. 1629-31, p. 527; P. William, ‘Activity of the Council in the Marches under the Early Stuarts’, WHR, i. 151. The continued significance of the secretaryship to Goring’s finances is shown by his remark, in December 1633, that it would be ‘no ill legacy’ if he could leave it to his eldest son.66 Sheffield Archives, WWM/StrP13/133.

At the beginning of 1633 Goring accompanied Thomas Howard^*, 21st (or 14th) earl of Arundel, to the Netherlands to try to persuade Elizabeth of Bohemia, the king’s sister, to return to England. Goring reported back on 5 Jan. that, despite Arundel’s best efforts, the queen of Bohemia was determined to remain where she was for fear her departure would dishearten her allies in Germany.67 M.A. Everett Green, Eliz. of Bohemia, 304-5. Goring returned to England with the queen’s agent, Sir Francis Nethersole^‡, on 20 January.68 Birch, Chas. I, ii. 217. Five months later, on 2 June, Nethersole wrote to Goring accusing him of forgetting his duty to the king and his friendship to the queen of Bohemia. Goring was initially unsure what he was being accused of and, fearing that it related directly to the king, was horrified, as he could not afford to lose royal favour. He had recently borrowed £9,000 to pay off his eldest son’s debts, which nearly bankrupted him, and were he to fall into disfavour his creditworthiness would be severely affected. He therefore complained (via the queen) to the king, who ordered the Council to investigate, whereupon Nethersole openly accused Goring of leaking details of a proposed benevolence to aid Elizabeth. However, Goring was subsequently exonerated by the Council, and on 31 July Nethersole was compelled to acknowledge his fault and beg Goring’s forgiveness.69 CSP Dom. 1633-4, pp. 83, 85, 87, 91-2, 106, 111-12, 160; Eg. 2597, f. 132; HMC Cowper, ii. 19-20. Schreiber states, incorrectly, that Goring was accused of leaking a proposal for funding a military venture under the 3rd marquess of Hamilton (James Hamilton^*, 2nd earl of Cambridge). R.E. Schreiber, First Carlisle (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. lxxiv), 131. On the face of it, Goring was now satisfied, for on 6 June he described Nethersole as ‘excellent’ in a letter to Carlisle. However, writing to Wentworth on 2 Aug. he was less complimentary. After observing that Nethersole had made his situation worse for himself by his ‘increasing folly’, he added, with relief, that ‘at last I am cleared from him’.70 Eg. 2597, f. 132; Sheffield Archives, WWM/StrP13/20.

In the autumn of 1633 Goring purchased for his eldest son, the future royalist general George Goring^‡, the regiment of Horace Vere^*, Lord Vere of Tilbury, in the Dutch army. He no doubt hoped that a military career would end his heir’s extravagance, but, in fact, this transaction placed further strains on Goring’s finances, forcing him to relinquish the last part of his revenue from the wine licences.71 Sheffield Archives, WWM/StrP13/92, 133. Two years later Algernon Percy, by now 4th earl of Northumberland, reported that Goring was so discontented that he was considering going to the Netherlands to enlist under his son.72 CSP Dom. Addenda 1625-49, p. 505. Instead, in the autumn of 1635, Goring went to Guernsey, apparently with an eye to purchasing the governorship of that island. However, he either decided against proceeding or could not raise the asking price.73 CSP Dom. 1635, pp. 396, 417, Strafforde Letters, i. 468. At the end of the year it was rumoured that Goring was lobbying for the post of governor to Prince Charles (Stuart^†, later prince of Wales); he was still seeking the place the following April but, by then, the general opinion at court was that he would be unsuccessful.74 Strafforde Letters, i. 490; HMC Portland, ii. 127.

Goring’s fortunes only began to improve in 1637, after gaining the favour of the newly appointed lord treasurer, William Juxon^†, bishop of London (later archbishop of Canterbury), who had taken Goring’s former secretary, Philip Warwick^‡, into his service.75 Ashton, 102; CSP Dom. 1635-6, p. 301. In 1637 a partnership headed by Goring secured farms of both the impositions on tobacco imports and the fees payable for licences to retail the same commodity. The former was particularly lucrative, for between 1637 and 1640 the annual receipts from the impositions were on average more than three times the rent which Goring and his colleagues paid.76 Coventry Docquets, 202, 231; F.C. Dietz, English Public Finance 1558-1641 (1964), 361.

In 1637 Goring put together a cartel, including the wealthy London merchant Nicholas Crisp^‡, to bid for a lease of the customs farm, which was due to be renewed at the end of 1638. The existing farmers were ordered to join with Goring and Crisp to bid for the new lease. The farmers were required to lend £70,000 to the crown to secure the lease and Goring proposed that the syndicate should borrow this money on the security of all members jointly. This alarmed some of the old farmers, who feared becoming entangled in Goring’s finances, and consequently they withdrew. Nevertheless in March 1638 the farm was granted to Goring, Crisp and the remaining old farmers.77 Ashton, 100-2; Dietz, 336; HMC De L’Isle and Dudley, vi. 121, 137-8; Strafforde Letters, ii. 141, 154; Coventry Docquets, 358.

In December 1638 Goring wrote to James Hamilton^*, 3rd marquess of Hamilton [S] (2nd earl of Cambridge in the English peerage), assuring him that the Scottish Covenanters would receive support from only ‘the ill filthy breaths of some few ill affected persons’ in England, because of the ‘real devotion of all this people here [in England] to our blessed king’. He added, somewhat unwisely, that if ‘ten stir here [in support of the Covenanters] let me [be] hanged up at the next tree’.78 Hamilton Pprs. ed. S.R. Gardiner (Cam. Soc. n.s. xxvii), 65. When, in January 1639, the king summoned the nobility to attend him at York Goring reportedly promised to provide 100 cavalrymen. In fact, he only pledged 20 and the services of his son George.79 CSP Dom. 1638-9, p. 378; SP16/413/117. The following August Goring finally secured significant political office, being appointed both vice chamberlain of the king’s household and a privy councillor. However, he had still not achieved financial security, for although after the Restoration it was claimed that his annual income totalled £26,800 on the eve of the Civil War, he was actually compelled to convey his estates in Sussex to trustees to pay his son’s debts.80 CSP Dom. 1663-4, p. 6; Danny Archives, p. xiii.

A staunch royalist during the 1640s, Goring sought French support for Charles I in the first Civil War, for which he was made earl of Norwich. One of the commanders of the besieged town of Colchester during the second Civil War, he was condemned to death in 1649, but the Rump approved a motion for his reprieve by a single vote. His eldest son, George, died in 1657, but Goring himself survived until the Restoration, when his attempt to recover the farm of the customs was rejected. He expired at an inn at Brentford in January 1663, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In his will, composed on 2 Jan., he appointed as his executor his eldest surviving son, Charles^†, who succeeded to his titles.81 HP Lords, 1660-1715, iii. 123-4; CSP Dom. 1663-4, pp. 5-6; Regs. Westminster Abbey, 158; PROB 11/310, ff. 54v-5.