Sir Arthur Gorges was a sea captain, poet, translator and courtier

Courtier

A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

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Early life

He was born the son of Sir William Gorges of Charlton (Charlton in the parish of Wraxall, Somerset

Wraxall, Somerset

Wraxall is a village in North Somerset in England. The parish of the same name also included Nailsea and Flax Bourton until 1811. It is now within the parish of Wraxall and Failand.-History:...

) and his wife Winifred Budockshede, heiress to the manor of Budockshede.
Sir William Gorges died in Dec 1584, in the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

: he was knighted in Ireland in 1579, Vice Admiral of the Fleet in 1580, and Constable of the Tower of London

Constable of the Tower

The Constable of the Tower is the most senior appointment at the Tower of London. In the middle ages a constable was the person in charge of a castle when the owner - the king or a nobleman - was not in residence...

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Arthur Gorges' brother Tristram Gorges (circa 1562 - 8 May 1608, St. Budeaux, Devonshire, England)
was entrusted by Sir Francis Drake

Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...

 with the custody of Don Pedro de Valdez who was captured in the fight with the Spanish Armada

Spanish Armada

This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...

. He took Don Pedro to the Tower of London.

The Gorges family in the Elizabethan era include Sir Ferdinando Gorges

Ferdinando Gorges

Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the "Father of English Colonization in North America", was an early English colonial entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine in 1622, although Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.-Biography:...

, founder of the Province of Maine

Province of Maine

The Province of Maine refers to several English colonies of that name that existed in the 17th century along the northeast coast of North America, at times roughly encompassing portions of the present-day U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec...

, and Arthur Gorges' uncle, Sir Thomas Gorges

Thomas Gorges

Thomas Gorges , an Elizabethan courtier and Groom of the Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I, a second cousin of Queen Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I all descendants of the first Howard Duke of Norfolk.His father was Sir Edward Gorges of Wraxall,and his mother one of Sir Edward's...

 of Longford Castle

Longford Castle

Longford Castle is located on the banks of the River Avon south of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.In 1573 Thomas Gorges, of Langford acquired the manor , which was originally owned by the Cervingtons. Prior to this the existing mansion house had been damaged by fire...

, married to Helena, Marchioness of Northampton

Helena, Marchioness of Northampton

Elin Ulfsdotter Snakenborg, Marchioness of Northampton, also known as Helena, and Helena the Red for her red hair, was a Swedish-born noblewoman, Maid of Honour of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and titular Marchioness of Northampton.- Family and lineage :She was born in Sweden, as Elin Ulfsdotter...

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Life

A cousin of both Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....

 and Charles Arundell, Arthur Gorges was a member of the Howard circle (the Oxford-Howard circle of Catholic courtiers in the late 1570s ) - Arundell claimed Oxford

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....

 had tried to have Gorges murdered on the Richmond Green

Richmond Green

Richmond Green is a recreation area located near the centre of Richmond, which is a town of about twenty thousand inhabitants situated in south west London. The green is essentially square in shape and its open grassland, framed with broadleaf trees, extends to roughly twelve acres...

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He was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 in 1584 for Yarmouth, IoW

Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) (UK Parliament constituency)

Yarmouth was a borough constituency of the House of Commons of England then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...

, in 1589 for Camelford

Camelford (UK Parliament constituency)

Camelford was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1552 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...

, in 1593 for Dorset

Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)

Dorset was a county constituency covering Dorset in southern England, which elected two Members of Parliament , traditionally known as knights of the shire, to the House of Commons of England from 1290 until 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of...

 and in 1601 for Rye

Rye (UK Parliament constituency)

Rye was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Rye in East Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until its representation was halved under the Reform Act 1832....

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He fought in the campaign against the Spanish Armada. In 1597 he commanded the War-Spite

HMS Warspite (1596)

WarspiteThe 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the eighteenth century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively was a great ship of the English Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard by the master shipwright Edward Stevens, and launched about 1 March 1596...

, in which Walter Ralegh sailed as Vice Admiral under the Earl of Essex

Earl of Essex

Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...

, Robert Devereux

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...

, on the Islands Voyage

Islands Voyage

The Islands Voyage was an English campaign against the Portuguese colonies in the Azores in 1597 as part of the Anglo–Spanish War. It was led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex with Sir Walter Raleigh as his second in command - other participants included Jacob Astley and Robert Mansell...

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He was one of nine who were knighted on 29 Oct 1597.

Family life

He lived at Gorges House (later named Milman House).

His family possessed considerable property in Chelsea

Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and he built "Brickills" - later named Stanley House - there.
Sir Robert Stanley, second son of William, sixth Earl of Derby

William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby

William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby was an English nobleman. Stanley inherited a prominent social position that was both dangerous and unstable, as his mother was heir to Queen Elizabeth I under the Third Succession Act, a position that fell to his deceased brother's oldest daughter in 1596,...

, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Arthur Gorges, and Stanley then seems to have lived at Stanley House.

Arthur Gorges married twice, first to Douglas Howard in 1584, with whom he had one daughter. Douglas Howard was the daughter and heir of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Bindon. Henry Howard’s father, the first Viscount (Thomas Howard, Viscount Howard of Bindon), was the second son of Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...

, uncle to Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...

 and Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....

, two wives of Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

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Gorges' second marriage was to Elizabeth Clinton Fiennes in 1597, with whom he had twelve children.

On the death of Arthur Gorges' first wife, Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...

 wrote the poem Daphnaïda. In the poem Alcyon is Sir Arthur Gorges.

Daphnaïda


An elegie vpon the death of the noble and vertuous Dovglas Howard, daughter and heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and wife of Arthur Gorges Esquier.

Dedicated to the Right honorable the Ladie Helena, Marquesse of Northampton

Helena, Marchioness of Northampton

Elin Ulfsdotter Snakenborg, Marchioness of Northampton, also known as Helena, and Helena the Red for her red hair, was a Swedish-born noblewoman, Maid of Honour of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and titular Marchioness of Northampton.- Family and lineage :She was born in Sweden, as Elin Ulfsdotter...

.

By Ed. Sp.

His monument is in Chelsea Old Church

Chelsea Old Church

Chelsea Old Church is on the north bank of the River Thames near Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London, England. It is the church for a parish in the Diocese of London, part of the Church of England. It is located on the corner of Old Church Street and Cheyne Walk. Inside, there is seating for 400...

. A brass plate, now fixed to the north wall, is engraved with the kneeling effigies of Sir Arthur Gorges and his six sons on one side of a small table, and his wife and five daughters on the other.

Works

His works include "Lucans Pharsalia

Pharsalia

The Pharsalia is a Roman epic poem by the poet Lucan, telling of the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Great...

" (with a preface in poetry by Walter Raleigh),
and a translation into English of Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...

's The Wisedome of the Ancientss:The Wisdom of the Ancients from the original Latin.

He is included in the Oxford Book of Sonnets (2000) published by the Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

, along with Walter Ralegh, Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...

, and other poets of the time.

Books

• Arthur Gorges, Spenser's Alcyon and Ralegh's friend. Author: Helen Estabrook Sandison. Publisher: [n.p., 1928?]
• Poems. Author: Arthur Gorges, Sir; Helen Estabrook Sandison. Publisher: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1953.
• The Story of a Family through Eleven Centuries, Illustrated by Portraits and Pedigrees: Being a History of the Family of Gorges. by Raymond Gorges, Frederick Brown; Merrymount Press, 1944. 293 pgs.