Charles Henry Goode

Sir Charles Henry Goode /ɡud/ (26 May 1827 – 5 February 1922) was a merchant, businessman, politician and philanthropist in the early days South Australia. He founded Goode, Durrant and Company in 1882.

He was born at Hinton, near Peterchurch, Herefordshire on 26 May 1827, and was apprenticed at the age of 12 years to a drapery establishment in Hereford, and in 1845 he proceeded to London, where he worked for Goode, Gainsborough and Co., and was one of the first members of Sir George Williams' Young Men's Christian Association.

In 1848 he left England for South Australia in the John Mitchell with Thomas Good (c. 1822 – 21 January 1889) of Birmingham (each later married a sister of the other), arriving in Adelaide in April 1849. Together they travelled the State by horse and cart hawking softgoods, and were successful enough to start a small softgoods business in Kermode Street, North Adelaide.

In September 1850 his parents and brothers Samuel and Matthew arrived in Adelaide on the Princess Helena, and helped carry on the business for 30 years as Goode Brothers. Warehouses were established in Rundle Street, Stephens Place and Grenfell Street, and carried out business throughout South Australia, Western Australia, and Broken Hill, New South Wales A London establishment was opened in 1859, and Charles Goode returned to England for four years.

Charles was back in Adelaide from 1863 to 1867. In March 1865 he was elected, with Neville Blyth, a brother of Sir Arthur Blyth, as a member of the House of Assembly for East Torrens, the same election at which Adam Lindsay Gordon entered Parliament. Charles sat on several Royal Commissions, notably the Destitute Act Commission, which sat for over two years and established the State Children's Council, of which Charles was a founding member. He was a leading member of a committee appointed to secure religious equality in celebration of marriages as embodied in the Marriage Bill. He was at that time described by the Rev. James Maughan (October 1826 – 8 March 1871) as "a gentleman well known not only as an earnest advocate, but also as a firm supporter of the great cause of civil and religious equality". In 1866 Goode resigned his seat in the Assembly due to demands of his business. There was a worldwide recession and Charles was doing everything he could to keep the firm solvent.

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