William Godolphin (1567–1613)

Sir William Godolphin (1567−1613), of Godolphin in Cornwall, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1604 to 1611.

Godolphin was the older son of Sir Francis Godolphin (1540-1608), also an MP and Governor of the Scilly Isles. He matriculated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1585 and was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on 29 January 1587.

He accompanied the Earl of Essex in his military expedition of 1599-1600 to Ireland, and was knighted on 13 July 1599 for his gallantry in an action at Arklow. He was subsequently put in command of a brigade of cavalry, and he was credited with playing an important part in victory at the Siege of Kinsale on 24 December 1601, when his troops broke through the enemy line and captured the Spanish commander.

Godolphin was Member of Parliament (MP) for Cornwall in the first parliament of James I from 1604 to 1611.

He was Lieutenant-governor of the Scilly Isles from 1597, becoming full Governor on the death of his father in 1608 until his own death in 1613.

He had married Thomasine, the daughter and heiress of Thomas Sidney of Wighton, Norfolk and had 3 sons and a daughter.

Godolphin's children included:

• Sir Francis Godolphin, KB (1605–1667), his heir
• Sidney Godolphin (1610–1643), the poet
• William Godolphin, who first succeeded his father as Governor of Scilly
• Penelope Godolphin, who married Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge

• Burke & Burke 1841, p. 220.