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GOULD (afterwards MORGAN), Charles (1726-1806), of Ealing, Mdx.
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Biography Detail
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Family and Education
b. 25 Apr. 1726, 1st s. of King Gould, dep. judge-advocate gen., by Elizabeth, da. of Charles Shaw of Besthorpe, Norf. educ. Westminster 1735; Ch. Ch. Oxf. 1743; L. Inn 1743, called 1750, K.C. 1754. m. Feb. 1758, Jane, da. of Thomas Morgan of Tredegar, Mon., sis. and ult. h. of Thomas, Charles, and John Morgan, 3s. 2da. Kntd. 5 May 1779; suc. bro.-in-law John Morgan 28 June 1792, and took name of Morgan 16 Nov. 1792; cr. Bt. 15 Nov. 1792.
Offices Held
Dep. judge-advocate gen. c.1753-69, judge-advocate gen. 1769- d.; P.C. 2 Sept. 1802.
Biography
Soon after Charles Gould began to practise at the bar he succeeded his father as deputy judge-advocate general. In 1756 Thomas Morgan, judge-advocate general, applied to Newcastle on Gould’s behalf for a seat at Dover:1
I should not be so pressing but that I have the pleasure of knowing Mr. Gould many years, and can assure your Grace that he is sincerely attached to the present royal family and likewise the present Administration ... I must beg leave to acquaint your Grace that Mr. Gould’s father has a very great interest at Dover and has upon all occasions exerted it in your Grace’s interest, and I am very certain that Mr. Gould will be very acceptable to that port as a candidate ... I do assure your Grace he is a young gentleman of great merit, and likewise will shine whenever he has the honour to be in the House.
The application was unsuccessful, as was also a second one in 1759.2
Meanwhile Gould had married Morgan’s daughter, but he had to wait twenty years before he found a seat in Parliament. In 1778 he was returned on the Morgan interest at Brecon. In Parliament he consistently supported North’s Administration, and voted for Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783, and Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783. His few speeches in the House all dealt with the business of his office. Unlike his brothers-in-law he supported Pitt. On the Regency he seems to have hedged: in the division of 16 Dec. 1788 he voted with Opposition, in that of 11 Feb. 1789 with Pitt, and in the consolidated list appears with Opposition.
He died 6 Dec. 1806.
