William Godolphin (Warden of the Stannaries)

For other people named William Godolphin, see William Godolphin (disambiguation).

Sir William Godolphin (c. 1486 – c. 1570) was a 16th century English Member of Parliament. He sat as Member for Cornwall during the reign of Henry VIII and possibly also of Edward VI, and also served as High Sheriff of Cornwall and Warden of the Stannaries. He seems to have been confused with his eldest son, also Sir William (1515–1570), not least in Burke's Extinct Peerage which conflates the two, so that is not clear which offices were held by the elder and which by the younger. Sir William lived to an advanced age, dying at around the same time as his son, which may have been the original cause of the confusion. He married Margaret Glynn, and had four children:

• Sir William Godolphin (1515–1570), who had three daughters but no sons
• Thomas Godolphin (born 1520), Captain (governor) of The Scilly Isles, through whom the male line of the family was continued
• Elizabeth Godolphin (born 1522), who married John Langdon
• Honor Godolphin (born c. 1524), who married William Melton

References

• Burke's Extinct Peerage (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831) [1]
• Collins' Peerage of England (London, 1768) [2]
• 'The Scilly Islands', Magna Britannia: volume 3: Cornwall (1814), pp. 330–337. [3]
• Godolphin family tree