Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin

The Right Honourable The Earl of Godolphin KG PC
Lord High Treasurer
In office 8 May 1702 – 11 August 1710
Monarch	Anne
Preceded by	The Earl of Carlisle as First Lord of the Treasury Commission
Succeeded by	The Earl Poulett as First Lord of the Treasury Commission
First Lord of the Treasury
In office 9 December 1700 – 30 December 1701
Monarch	William III
Preceded by	The Earl Tankerville
Succeeded by	The Earl of Carlisle
In office 15 November 1690 – 1 June 1699
Monarch	William III and Mary II
Preceded by	Sir John Lowther
Succeeded by	Charles Montagu
In office 9 September 1684 – 16 February 1685
Monarch	Charles II James II
Preceded by	The Earl of Rochester
Succeeded by	The Earl of Rochester as Lord High Treasurer
Member of Parliament for Helston
In office September 1679 – 1685 Serving with Sir Vyell Vyvyan (1679–1681) Serving with Charles Godolphin (1681–1685)
Monarch	Charles II James II
Preceded by	Sir William Godolphin
Succeeded by	Sidney Godolphin
In office 1665 – February 1679 Serving with Sir William Godolphin
Monarch	Charles II
Preceded by	Sir Peter Killigrew
Succeeded by	Sir Vyell Vyvyan
Personal details
Born	Sidney Godolphin 15 June 1645 Breage, Cornwall Kingdom of England
Died	September 15, 1712 (aged 67) St Albans, Hertfordshire Kingdom of Great Britain
Political party	Tory
Spouse(s)	Margaret Blagge
Children	Francis Godolphin

Arms of Sir Sidney Godolphin, KG: An eagle displayed with two heads between three fleurs-de-lis, circumscribed by the Garter, with canting crest: a dolphin embowed

Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin KG PC (15 June 1645 – 15 September 1712) was a leading British politician of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was a Privy Councillor and Secretary of State for the Northern Department before attaining real power as First Lord of the Treasury. He was instrumental in negotiating and passing the Acts of Union 1707 with Scotland, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain.

He had many other roles, including that of Governor of Scilly.

Family and early career

He came from an ancient Cornish family, being the son of Francis Godolphin (1605–1667) and nephew of the poet Sidney Godolphin. At the Restoration he was introduced into the royal household by King Charles II of England, whose favourite he had become, and he also entered the House of Commons as member for Helston, in Cornwall. Although he very seldom addressed the House, and, when he did so, only in the briefest manner, he "gradually acquired a reputation as its chief if not its only financial authority". In 1668 he was a successful intermediary between the King and his sister Henrietta Anne (wife of the Duke of Orléans), in order to secure an agreement with King Louis XIV of France, where Charles would reject his Dutch allies in return for French money.^[1] In 1669 he was awarded a 31-year lease on all tin mines in Rialton and Retraigh in Cornwall.^[1]In 1670 Godolphin was appointed Groom of the Bedchamber along with a pension of £500 per annum, holding the post until 1678.

Charles appointed Godolphin envoy-extraordinary to Louis XIV in 1672 in order to reassure the French King of Charles's allegiance before Louis attacked the Dutch. Godolphin was with Louis in the field during the Franco-Dutch War but was unimpressed with Louis's capabilities as a military commander.^[1]

In March 1679 he was appointed a member of the Privy Council, and in the September following he was promoted, along with Viscount Hyde (afterwards Earl of Rochester) and the Earl of Sunderland, to the chief management of affairs.

Exclusion and revolution

Although he voted for the Exclusion Bill in 1680, he was continued in office after the dismissal of Sunderland, and in September 1684 he was created Baron Godolphin of Rialton, and succeeded Rochester as First Lord of the Treasury. After the accession of James II he was made chamberlain to the queen, Mary of Modena, and, along with Rochester and Sunderland, enjoyed the king's special confidence. In 1687 he was named commissioner of the treasury. Godolphin was involved in the payment of approximately £125,000 by Louis XIV to James II of money in return for James's support for Louis, despite Parliament voting James £6,000,000. The historian David Ogg has written that "James and his two ministers, Rochester and Godolphin, were prepared to barter the independence of England for a sum little more than a sixtieth part of that granted by the national legislature".^[2]

He was one of the council of five appointed by King James to represent him in London, when he went to join the army after the landing of William of Orange, in England, and, along with Lord Halifax and Lord Nottingham, he was afterwards appointed a commissioner to negotiate with the prince. On the accession of William, though he only obtained the third seat at the treasury board, he was in control of affairs. He retired in March 1690, but, was recalled in the following November and appointed first lord.

Career under William III and Queen Anne

While holding this office he for several years continued, in conjunction with John Churchill (the future Duke of Marlborough), a secret correspondence with James II, and is said to have disclosed to James intelligence regarding the intended expedition against Brest. Godolphin was not only a Tory by inheritance, but was thought to have a romantic admiration for the wife of James II. After Fenwick's confession in 1696 regarding the attempted assassination of William III, Godolphin, who was compromised, tendered his resignation; but when the Tories came into power in 1700, he was again appointed Lord Treasurer in May 1703 and retained office for eight years. Though not technically a favourite with Queen Anne, he was, after her accession, appointed to his old office, on the strong recommendation of Marlborough. In 1704 he was also made a Knight of the Garter, and in December 1706 he was created Viscount Rialton and Earl of Godolphin.

Though a Tory, he had an active share in the intrigues which gradually led to the predominance of the Whigs in alliance with Marlborough. The influence of the Marlboroughs with the queen was, however, gradually supplanted by that of Abigail Masham and Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and with the fortunes of the Marlboroughs those of Godolphin were indissolubly united. The services of both were so appreciated by the nation that they were able for a time to regard the loss of the queen’s favour with indifference, and even in 1708 to procure the expulsion of Harley from office; but after the High Tory reaction which followed the impeachment of Henry Sacheverell, who abused Godolphin under the name of Volpone, the queen made use of the opportunity to get rid of Marlborough by abruptly dismissing Godolphin from office on 7 August 1710. He died two years later and his estate was worth more than £12,000.

Marriage & succession

On 16 May 1675 Godolphin married Margaret Blagge, daughter of Thomas Blagge, the pious lady whose life was written by John Evelyn in his book The Life of Mrs Godolphin.^[3] She died in childbirth in 1678 bearing his only son, and Godolphin never remarried. Margaret is buried at Breage, Cornwall, the spot marked by a small brass floor plaque erected by the Duke of Leeds. Progeny:

• Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin (1678–1766)

Gallery

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  Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin by Godfrey Kneller

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  Margaret Blagge, wife of Sidney Godolphin, portrait by Matthew Dixon

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  Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin by Jean-Baptiste van Loo

Legacy

The Whig historian Lord Macaulay said of Godolphin in 1848:

He was laborious, clear-headed, and profoundly versed in the details of finance. Every government, therefore, found him an useful servant; and there was nothing in his opinions or in his character which could prevent him from serving any government. “Sidney Godolphin,” said Charles, “is never in the way, and never out of the way.” This pointed remark goes far to explain Godolphin's extraordinary success in life. He acted at different times with both the great political parties; but he never shared in the passions of either. Like most men of cautious tempers and prosperous fortunes, he had a strong disposition to support whatever existed. He disliked revolutions, and, for the same reason for which he disliked revolutions, he disliked counter-revolutions. His deportment was remarkably grave and reserved, but his personal tastes were low and frivolous; and most of the time which he could save from public business was spent in racing, cardplaying, and cockfighting.^[4]

In the opinion of Julian Hoppitt, Godolphin "tirelessly oversaw the dramatic expansion of key areas of the State, providing an element of integrity, continuity, and predictability in a very uncertain environment. He was in a very real sense Marlborough's partner and together the duumvirs oversaw the glory days of the War of the Spanish Succession. In a very real sense Marlborough's dismissal and Godolphin's death the following year marked the end of an era".^[5] Roy Sundstrom has asserted that Godolphin is an important figure in the history of England because:

...first he raised the money required to blunt French hegemony in Europe and thus preserved the British constitution and the protestant monarchy; second he was instrumental in planning the military and diplomatic strategy that ultimately defeated Louis XIV; third, as lord high treasurer, he worked to make the Treasury more efficient and attempted to weed out corruption—the Treasury as he left it served England well for the remainder of the eighteenth century; fourth he was instrumental in negotiating and passing the Act of Union with Scotland which created the united kingdom of Great Britain; and fifth he negotiated the creation of a unified East India Company, which would be instrumental in establishing British rule in India.^[1]

Notes

References

1. Roy A. Sundstrom, ‘Godolphin, Sidney, first earl of Godolphin (1645–1712)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009, accessed 25 Jan 2011.
2. David Ogg, England in the Reigns of James II and William III (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 158.
3. "The life of Mrs. Godolphin - John Evelyn, Samuel Wilberforce - Google Books". Google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-06-28.
4. Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second. Popular Edition in Two Volumes. Volume I (London: Longmans, 1889), p. 125.
5. Julian Hoppitt, A Land of Liberty? England 1689-1727 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000), p. 126.

Primary sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Dickinson, William Calvin (1990). Sidney Godolphin, Lord Treasurer, 1702-10. Edwin Meller Press.
• Snyder, H. L. (1975). The Marlborough–Godolphin correspondence. 3 vols.
• Sundstrom, Roy A. (1993). Sidney Godolphin: Servant of the State. Dover: University of Delaware Press.

Secondary sources

• Hoppitt, Julian (2000). A Land of Liberty? England 1689-1727. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Macaulay, Thomas Babington (1889). The History of England from the Accession of James the Second. Two Volumes. London: Longmans.
• Ogg, David (1969). England in the Reigns of James II and William III. London: Oxford University Press.
• Sundstrom, Roy A. (May 2009) [2004]. "Godolphin, Sidney, first earl of Godolphin (1645–1712)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press). Retrieved 25 Jan 2011.

External links