George Goring, Lord Goring

Lord Goring
Portrait of Lord Goring after Anthony van Dyck.
Born	1608
Died	1657 (aged 48 or 49) Madrid, Spain
Allegiance	Royalist
Rank	Lieutenant-General of Horse
Battles/wars	Siege of Breda, Battle of Seacroft Moor, Battle of Marston Moor, Battle of Langport

George Goring, Lord Goring (14 July 1608 – 1657) was an English Royalist soldier. He was known by the courtesy title Lord Goring as the eldest son of the first Earl of Norwich.

Goring, the eldest son of George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich, was born on 14 July 1608. He soon became famous at court for his prodigality and dissolute manners.

His father-in-law, Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, procured for him a post in the Dutch Army with the rank of colonel. He was permanently lamed by a wound received at the Siege of Breda in 1637, and returned to England early in 1639, when he was made governor of Portsmouth.

He served in the Bishops' Wars, and already had a considerable reputation when he was involved in the "Army Plot" (1641). Officers of the army stationed at York proposed to petition the king and parliament for the maintenance of the royal authority. A second party was in favour of more violent measures, and Goring, in the hope of being appointed lieutenant-general, proposed to march the army on London and overawe the Parliament during Strafford's trial (1641). This proposition being rejected by his fellow-officers, he betrayed the proceedings to Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport, who passed on the information indirectly to John Pym in April.

Colonel Goring was thereupon called on to give evidence before the Commons, who commended him for his services to the Commonwealth. This betrayal of his comrades induced confidence in the minds of the parliamentary leaders, who sent him back to his Portsmouth command. Nevertheless he declared for the king in August. He surrendered Portsmouth to the parliament in September 1642 after the Siege of Portsmouth and went to the Netherlands to recruit for the Royalist army, returning to England in December. Appointed to a cavalry command by the Earl of Newcastle, he defeated Fairfax at Seacroft Moor near Leeds in March 1643, but in May he was taken prisoner at Wakefield on the capture of the town by Fairfax. In April 1644 he effected an exchange.