Family and Education

m., at least 3s. 1da.

Offices Held

Freeman, Southampton 1570; j.p. Hants from c.1591.

Biography

Goddard, who once represented his town in Parliament without leaving any trace on the records, was probably related to Richard Goddard, with whom he was presented at the court leet in 1589 and 1590 for allowing refuse to collect behind the walls. He may have been the son of Thomas Goddard, a former mayor and merchant of the town. Though no reference to his education has been found he may have had some legal training, for a few years after being admitted a freeman of Southampton he was acting as the town’s attorney at London for return of writs, for which he was paid 20s.in 1573-4 and 1578-9. Later he often pleaded in the town court and acted for Southampton in legal matters. He owned 24 houses there and was a free suitor at the court leet from 1596 onwards. He later set up as a country gentleman at Canterton, afterwards purchasing a small estate nearby at Birchenwood in Bramshaw, which became his chief residence thereafter. He made his will 22 June 1618, leaving the bulk of his property to his eldest son Henry, the sole executor, and remembering the poor of Southampton. He died 13 May 1623. His descendants lived at Birchenwood until the eighteenth century.

Ct. Leet Recs. i (Soton Rec. Soc.), 267, 286; ii. 305; iii. 584; Third Remembrance Bk. ii (Soton Rec. Ser.), 125, 133; Soton Civic Centre, remembrance bk. 1514-1602, f. 146; VCH Hants, iv. 92, 413, 625, 637-8; CSP Dom. 1623-5, pp. 569, 573; PCC 42 Savile; C142/404/125.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: Patricia Hyde

Notes