Francis Godolphin (1540-1608)

Sir Francis Godolphin (1540–1608) was an English nobleman, politician, knight, and Member of Parliament.

The nephew of Sir William Godolphin (1515-1570), who left no male issue, he succeeded to his uncle's estates early in Queen Elizabeth's reign. He was one of the leading citizens of Cornwall, described by that county's 17th century historian, Richard Carew, as one "whose zeal in religion, uprightness in justice, providence in government, and plentiful housekeeping, have won him a very great and reverent reputation in his country". (The Survey of Cornwall, 1602, quoted in Burke's Extinct Peerage).

His father, Thomas, had been Governor of the Scilly Isles and they were leased to Francis who became governor in his turn (see Governors of Scilly). On royal instructions he improved the defences of the islands which were, in Carew's words "reduced to a more defensible plight by him, who with his invention and purse, bettered his plot and allowance, and therein so tempered strength and delight, and both with use, as it serveth for a sure hold, and a commodious dwelling." Chief among this work of fortification was the building of Star Castle. He was also an innovative manager of Cornwall's tin mines, his inventions greatly increasing their productivity by extracting metal from material; that would previously have been discarded as refuse, so materially improving both the prosperity of Cornwall and the revenue that the Crown derived from it.

Sir Francis represented Cornwall in the Parliament of 1588-9 and Lostwithiel in that of 1593; he was also twice High Sheriff of Cornwall (1580 and 1604), Custos Rotulorum for a number of years, and Vice-Warden of the Stannaries from 1584 to 1603.

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