Gabriel Goldney, 1st Baronet

Sir Gabriel Goldney, 1st Baronet (25 July 1813 – 8 May 1900) was a Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1885. He was created a baronet in May 1880.

The Goldney family, from Bristol, became clothiers in Chippenham in the sixteenth century and were long afterwards associated with Wiltshire, and particularly the town. An ancestor, Henry Goldney, had also been a member of parliament for Chippenham and was in 1553 appointed the first "Bayliff" of Chippenham. A 17th-century ancestor, also named Gabriel, left bequests in his will to provide "greatcoats for six poor inhabitants".

Goldney was born on 25 July and baptised at Chippenham on 3 December 1813. His father was Harry Goldney (1774–1852) and his mother Elizabeth (née Reade, c. 1789–1863). He was educated at Christ's Hospital (of which he later became a Governor) from 1820 to 1828.

Goldney married Mary Anne Alexander in Corsham on 16 September 1839, and they had four children: Mary Catherine Goldney (14 October 1841 – 4 August 1854), Gabriel Prior Goldney (b. 4 August 1843), Frederick Hastings Goldney (b. 26 May 1845), and John Tankerville Goldney (b. 15 June 1846).

Goldney became a landowner, financier and banker. In 1854 he bought Sheldon Manor and in 1856, land in Hilmarton. His investments extended outside Wiltshire to Camberley in Surrey, as in 1860 he advanced money to develop a silk farm at Heatherside; however, the venture failed, Goldney foreclosed on his investment and took possession of the land, part of which later became Prior Park, Camberley, the residence of his two elder sons.

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