William Godolphin (Royalist)
Encyclopedia
Sir William Godolphin was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons
in 1640. He fought for the Royalist
cause in the English Civil War
.
Godolphin was born at Treveneage, Cornwall, the son of Sir John Godolphin and wife Judith Meridith. His father died before he was 21. His uncle was Sir William Godolphin. Godolphin became active with the Cornish trained bands in 1638, and may have taken part in the King’s Scottish Wars in 1640.
In April 1640, Godolphin was elected Member of Parliament
for Helston
in the Short Parliament
. He was probably also elected MP for Cornwall
, but the Short Parliament did not last long enough for such situations to be resolved.
On the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, Godolphin was colonel of a trained band raised for the King in Cornwall. By October 1642 the Royalists had driven Parliamentary forces from Cornwall but as the trained bands could only fight within Cornwall, the Royalist commander Hopton raised a new volunteer force. Godolphin raised one regiment made up from part time volunteers in his trained bands. The other regiments were formed under Nicholas Slanning
, Sir Bevill Grenvile
, Colonel John Trevanion
and Warwick, Lord Mohun
. Hopton first used his forces to make an unsuccessful attempt on Exeter
then fell back on Plympton, took it, and invested Plymouth on 1 December. Later that month they took Alphington
, Powderham
, and Topsham
but failed to capture Exeter in a night attack. Their first field battle was Braddock
(actually Pinnock) Down in January 1643 when Ruthin's forces were forced to flee back through Liskeard
and on to Saltash
, while the Earl of Stamford
withdrew from Launceston.Godolphins regiment, pursued Ruthin.
Hopton, after some futile negotiations, invested Plymouth again but not until after Godolphin's cousin the poet Sidney Godolphin
died of a wound received in a skirmish at Chagford
. The Cornish forces now left Devon and things remained quiet until the encounter battle of Polston Bridge, Launceston in April. Two days later there was another encounter battle, the "Western Wonder" of the Cavalier ballad, at Sourton Down, where in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, Chudleigh was able to hold the field and Hopton again retreated to Launceston. On 16 May the Cornish regiments attacked the forces on Stratton (now Stamford) Hill, Stratton
. This produced their most spectacular victory when, after ten hours of fighting uphill against twice their number of much better equipped enemy with a dug-in battery
, the Royalists gained the position, killing 300 and capturing 1,700 with fourteen guns, £300 and plentiful provisions, at a cost of 80 men.
The Cornish Royalist army then received orders to rendezvous with Prince Maurice's
men, whom they met at Chard
in Somerset in June. This combined force now took Taunton
, Bridgwater
, Dunster Castle
and Wells
. Their first contact with the Parliamentarian commander William Waller
was a cavalry
skirmish at Chewton Mendip
. Waller was driven out of Monkton Farleigh
on 3 July 1643 and on 5 July, two days later, the Royalists won a pyrrhic victory
at the Battle of Lansdowne
. Sir Bevill Grenvile fell at the battle. The foot were now besieged in Devizes
but witnessed the destruction of Waller's forces at Roundway Down
. The Western Royalists took Bath, and after joining Prince Rupert
on 26 July 1643 they stormed Bristol
. The Battle lasted over thirteen hours and at the end the Royalist had taken the City, but lost both Sir Nicholas Slanning and Sir John Trevanion. The Cornish returned to Devon, and unfer Prince Maurice, they took Exeter on 4 September and Dartmonth on 6 October, and arrived back near Plymouth for the winter. Godolphin was knighted at Oxford on 6 May 1644. Later in the year the Royalist captured and disbanded the parliamentary army of the Earl of Essex on 22 August 1644. In 1645 Godolphin's Regiment returned to Exeter to become one of the garrison units and was still there at the fall of the city on 9 April 1646. Godolphin was one of the signatories to the surrender.
Godolpin lived to see the Restoration of King Charles II. He died at Spargor Cornwall in 1663 and was buried at St Mabyn on 27 November 1663.
Godolphin married firstly Ruth Lambe, daughter of Sir John Lambe of Coulston and secondly Grace Barrett at Sutcombe, Devon on 25 March 1658. His son William
by his first wife was an MP and diplomat. His brother John Godolphin
was a lawyer and writer.
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
in 1640. He fought for the Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
cause in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
.
Godolphin was born at Treveneage, Cornwall, the son of Sir John Godolphin and wife Judith Meridith. His father died before he was 21. His uncle was Sir William Godolphin. Godolphin became active with the Cornish trained bands in 1638, and may have taken part in the King’s Scottish Wars in 1640.
In April 1640, Godolphin 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,...
for Helston
Helston (UK Parliament constituency)
Helston, sometimes known as Helleston, was a parliamentary borough centred on the small town of Helston in Cornwall.Using the bloc vote system of election, it returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England until 1707, then to House of Commons of Great Britain until 1800, and...
in the Short Parliament
Short Parliament
The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....
. He was probably also elected MP for Cornwall
Cornwall (UK Parliament constituency)
Cornwall is a former county constituency covering the county of Cornwall, in the South West of England. It was a 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...
, but the Short Parliament did not last long enough for such situations to be resolved.
On the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, Godolphin was colonel of a trained band raised for the King in Cornwall. By October 1642 the Royalists had driven Parliamentary forces from Cornwall but as the trained bands could only fight within Cornwall, the Royalist commander Hopton raised a new volunteer force. Godolphin raised one regiment made up from part time volunteers in his trained bands. The other regiments were formed under Nicholas Slanning
Nicholas Slanning
Sir Nicholas Slanning was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He was a Royalist army officer active in the West of England, during the English Civil War.-Background:...
, Sir Bevill Grenvile
Bevil Grenville
Sir Bevil Grenville was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England between 1621 and 1642. He was a Royalist soldier in the English Civil War and was killed in action at the Battle of Lansdowne.-Backgound:...
, Colonel John Trevanion
John Trevanion
John Trevanion was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1640 to 1643. He was a royalist officer who was killed in action in the English Civil War....
and Warwick, Lord Mohun
Warwick Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun of Okehampton
Warwick Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun of Okehampton was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 until he inherited his peerage and sat in the House of Lords....
. Hopton first used his forces to make an unsuccessful attempt on Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
then fell back on Plympton, took it, and invested Plymouth on 1 December. Later that month they took Alphington
Alphington, Devon
Alphington is a suburb of the City of Exeter in southwest England. The ward of Alphington has a population of 8250 according to the 2001 census, making it the third largest in Exeter, with the village itself accounting for about a quarter of this figure...
, Powderham
Powderham Castle
Powderham Castle is located south of Exeter, Devon, England. The Powderham Estate, in which it is set, runs down to the western shores of the estuary of the River Exe between the villages of Kenton and Starcross....
, and Topsham
Topsham, Devon
Topsham is a suburb of Exeter in the county of Devon, England, on the east side of the River Exe, immediately north of its confluence with the River Clyst and the former's estuary, between Exeter and Exmouth. Although village-sized, with a current population of around 5,023, it was designated a...
but failed to capture Exeter in a night attack. Their first field battle was Braddock
Braddock, Cornwall
Braddock is a village and a civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated about seven miles west of Liskeard, and five miles south-east of Bodmin....
(actually Pinnock) Down in January 1643 when Ruthin's forces were forced to flee back through Liskeard
Liskeard
Liskeard is an ancient stannary and market town and civil parish in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Liskeard is situated approximately 20 miles west of Plymouth, west of the River Tamar and the border with Devon, and 12 miles east of Bodmin...
and on to Saltash
Saltash
Saltash is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a population of 14,964. It lies in the south east of Cornwall, facing Plymouth over the River Tamar. It was in the Caradon district until March 2009 and is known as "the gateway to Cornwall". Saltash means ash tree by...
, while the Earl of Stamford
Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford
Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford , known as the Lord Grey of Groby from 1614 to 1628, was an English nobleman and military leader. He was the eldest son of Sir John Grey and Elizabeth Nevill...
withdrew from Launceston.Godolphins regiment, pursued Ruthin.
Hopton, after some futile negotiations, invested Plymouth again but not until after Godolphin's cousin the poet Sidney Godolphin
Sidney Godolphin (poet)
Sidney Godolphin , was an English poet, courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1628 and 1643. He died fighting in the Royalist army in the English Civil War.-Biography:...
died of a wound received in a skirmish at Chagford
Chagford
Chagford is a small town and civil parish on the north-east edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, England, close to the River Teign. It is located off the A382, about 4 miles west of Moretonhampstead. The name Chagford is derived from the word chag, meaning gorse or broom, and the ford suffix indicates its...
. The Cornish forces now left Devon and things remained quiet until the encounter battle of Polston Bridge, Launceston in April. Two days later there was another encounter battle, the "Western Wonder" of the Cavalier ballad, at Sourton Down, where in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, Chudleigh was able to hold the field and Hopton again retreated to Launceston. On 16 May the Cornish regiments attacked the forces on Stratton (now Stamford) Hill, Stratton
Stratton, Cornwall
Stratton is a small town situated near the coastal resort of Bude in north Cornwall, UK. It was also the name of one of ten ancient administrative shires of Cornwall - see "Hundreds of Cornwall"...
. This produced their most spectacular victory when, after ten hours of fighting uphill against twice their number of much better equipped enemy with a dug-in battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, the Royalists gained the position, killing 300 and capturing 1,700 with fourteen guns, £300 and plentiful provisions, at a cost of 80 men.
The Cornish Royalist army then received orders to rendezvous with Prince Maurice's
Prince Maurice von Simmern
Prince Maurice of the Palatinate KG , Count Palatine of the Rhine, was the fourth son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Princess Elizabeth, only daughter of James I, King of England and Scotland and Anne of Denmark....
men, whom they met at Chard
Chard, Somerset
Chard is a town and civil parish in the Somerset county of England. It lies on the A30 road near the Devon border, south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 12,000 and, at an elevation of , it is the southernmost and highest town in Somerset...
in Somerset in June. This combined force now took Taunton
Taunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
, Bridgwater
Bridgwater
Bridgwater is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is the administrative centre of the Sedgemoor district, and a major industrial centre. Bridgwater is located on the major communication routes through South West England...
, Dunster Castle
Dunster Castle
Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period. After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century,...
and Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
. Their first contact with the Parliamentarian commander William Waller
William Waller
Sir William Waller was an English soldier during the English Civil War. He received his education at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and served in the Venetian army and in the Thirty Years' War...
was a cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
skirmish at Chewton Mendip
Chewton Mendip
Chewton Mendip is a village and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England. It is situated north of Wells, south of Bristol on the Mendip Hills and is the source of the River Chew. The parish includes the hamlet of Bathway.- History :...
. Waller was driven out of Monkton Farleigh
Monkton Farleigh
Monkton Farleigh is a small village in west Wiltshire, England, 3 miles from Bradford-on-Avon, and 5 miles from the city of Bath...
on 3 July 1643 and on 5 July, two days later, the Royalists won a pyrrhic victory
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
at the Battle of Lansdowne
Battle of Lansdowne
The English Civil War battle of Lansdowne was fought on 5 July 1643, near Bath, southwest England. Although the Royalists under Lord Hopton forced the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller to retreat from their hilltop position, they suffered so many casualties themselves and were left so...
. Sir Bevill Grenvile fell at the battle. The foot were now besieged in Devizes
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The town is about southeast of Chippenham and about east of Trowbridge.Devizes serves as a centre for banks, solicitors and shops, with a large open market place where a market is held once a week...
but witnessed the destruction of Waller's forces at Roundway Down
Battle of Roundway Down
The Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July 1643, during the First English Civil War. A Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller who were besieging Devizes in central Wiltshire, which was defended by Lord Hopton...
. The Western Royalists took Bath, and after joining Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...
on 26 July 1643 they stormed Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The Battle lasted over thirteen hours and at the end the Royalist had taken the City, but lost both Sir Nicholas Slanning and Sir John Trevanion. The Cornish returned to Devon, and unfer Prince Maurice, they took Exeter on 4 September and Dartmonth on 6 October, and arrived back near Plymouth for the winter. Godolphin was knighted at Oxford on 6 May 1644. Later in the year the Royalist captured and disbanded the parliamentary army of the Earl of Essex on 22 August 1644. In 1645 Godolphin's Regiment returned to Exeter to become one of the garrison units and was still there at the fall of the city on 9 April 1646. Godolphin was one of the signatories to the surrender.
Godolpin lived to see the Restoration of King Charles II. He died at Spargor Cornwall in 1663 and was buried at St Mabyn on 27 November 1663.
Godolphin married firstly Ruth Lambe, daughter of Sir John Lambe of Coulston and secondly Grace Barrett at Sutcombe, Devon on 25 March 1658. His son William
William Godolphin (diplomat)
Sir William Godolphin was an English diplomat and Member of Parliament.Godolphin was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, gaining the degrees of Master of Arts in 1661 and Doctor of Civil Law in 1663...
by his first wife was an MP and diplomat. His brother John Godolphin
John Godolphin
John Godolphin was an English jurist and writer, an admiralty judge under the Commonweath.- Life :The second son of John Godolphin, who was younger brother of Sir William Godolphin , he was born at Scilly, 29 November 1617. He became a commoner of Gloucester Hall, Oxford, in the Michaelmas term...
was a lawyer and writer.