6:2 - The Golding Family of Bermuda
Arthur Golding the Translator and his descendants
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Arthur Golding was a member of the Essex branch of the Golding Family. He was probably born in London around 1536 although the date of his birth is somewhat undetermined, the younger son of John "of Essex" Golding and Ursula Marston, the daughter of William Merston of Horton, Surrey. His father was one of the auditors of the exchequer. Arthur was the step-brother of Margery Golding who married John de Vere, the 16th Earl of Oxford. Another step-brother was Sir Thomas Golding who was married to Elizabeth Royden of the powerful Royden family.
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His name is listed in the registers of Queen's College, Cambridge but he did not take a degree and on his title page he describes himself as a "gentleman". His grandfather was Thomas "of Grey's Cavendish" Golding and his grandmother was Elizabeth Worthy but before about 1563 there is no accurate information about him, but a legal document quoted in Morant’s Essex states that Henry Golding, Arthur's brother who died in 1576 was possessed at that time of the manor of East Thorp and he states that "Arthur, his brother and next heir, then aged 40, succeeded him. (The History and Antiquities of Colchester, in the County of Essex by Philip Morant)
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Arthur Golding spent his life as an academician and the Earl of Oxford was one of his patrons and in 1563 he was receiver for his nephew Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, with whom he seems to have resided for a time in Sir William Cecil’s house in the Strand in London. De Vere was Arthur Golding's junior by only nine years, so they were basically contemporaries. (Golding, 1937)
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There is a long account of the life of Arthur Golding in the Dictionary of National Biography. In 1565 he began a long series of translations from the classics. He was in the service of the Lord Protector Somerset as early as 1549 and entered Jesus College, Cambridge but took no degree perhaps because by that time he was already an affirmed Protestant and thought it prudent to leave the college upon the elevation of Queen Mary to the throne. In London he moved in good society, although he showed strong puritan tendencies and occupied himself largely with translations from Calvin and Theodore Beza. His patrons included, beside Cecil, Hatton and Leicester, the Earl of Essex, Sir William Mildmay, Lord Cobham and the Earl of Huntingdon. He spent some time in 1567 at Berwick and there finished his chief work, his translation of Ovid's "Metamorphosis" on 20 April 1567. He dates the dedication to Sir Christopher Hatton of his translation of Seneca's "De Beneficiis" from his house in the parish of All Hallows on the Wall, London, ultimately dedicating his translation of Caesar's "Commentaries" to Cecil from Belchamp St Paul and in 1575 completing his translation of Beza's "Tragedie of Abraham's Sacrifice". He was a member, like the chief literary men of the age, of the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries, founded by Archbishop Parker in 1572. Sir Philip Sidney was one of his friends, and when Sidney left for the Low Countries on his fatal expedition, he entrusted Golding with the fragment of his translation of De Mornay. (The Dictionary of National Biography, Vol.8, p. 75)
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His brother Henry married Alice Cloville, the widow of George Forster and Arthur as his heir was the defendant in a suit brought in 1578 by her daughter Mary Waldegrave, the wife of Robert Waldegrave to recover some of Forster's lands.
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Alice Cloville married three times. Her first husband was Edward Tyrell and she married the second time to George Forster, the son of Robert Forster of Little Birch, Essex. They had two daughters, Joan Forster and Mary Forster, who married Robert Waldegrave, by whom according to the testator's will below she had a daughter Elizabeth Waldegrave.
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“And whereas I have to my charges provided and bought a marriage for my brother, Robert Waldegrave, that is to say, one of the daughters and heirs of George Forster, esquire, deceased, by whom he shall have some inheritance for term of his life if he have issue by her, the which as yet he hath not, and for want thereof, or of other assurance to him to be made by her of her said inheritance, he should by her death be nothing advanced, therefore my mind and will is that if it shall fortune my said brother’s wife to die, living my brother, without issue by him, or having not of her lands, tenements or hereditaments to the yearly value of £20 assured to him for term of his life, then I will and give unto him one annuity or yearly rent of £4 by year out of my manor of Chewton in the county of Somerset . . . . “
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The marriage is mentioned in the will dated 14 September 1559 of Robert Waldegrave's brother, Sir Edward Waldegrave of Borley who died a prisoner in the Tower under Queen Elizabeth for his Catholic beliefs. Henry Golding was the third husband of Alice Cloville and they had no children. (Shakespeare.com)
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Arthur's wife is identified in Davy's pedigree which states there were four sons and four daughters born. The eldest son Henry married Joan, daughter of Henry Gooday and there was a son also named Henry and four daughters. (Three Roydon Families)
There were a number of families, all connected through marriage who exchanged property.
The following is from Robert Coe, The Puritan p 40:
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"In 1585 Roger Gooddaye, gent acquired of John Coo, Sr and Joanna his wife and John Coo Jr (brothers) three messuages (dwellings), a dovecot, three gardens, twenty acres of land, ten acres of meadow, twenty acres of pasture and two acres of wlld in Belchamp St Paul, Belchamp Otten and Tylbury. John Coo for some years had a lease of the manor of Netherhall as shown by the following legal cause: On June 21, 1585 the Attorney General complained that the Queen had granted to one ROBERT HOLMES the tithes of the parish of Gestingthorpe in her Duchy of Lancaster, but one John Coe, tenant of Netherhall farm had refusted for three years to pay the small tithes on hay, wool, lambs, etc to said Holmes. Defendant answered that he held Netherhall farm by lease, formerly of the Earl of Oxford and now of the estate of GEORGE GOLDING, gent, deceased, and that he had paid the tithes to said Holmes except on two acres which from time out of mind belonged to the vicar of Gestingthorpe. The next year John Coo and his eldest son William bought the manor of Netherhall, a license being granted by the Crown on March 2, 1585-6 to Arthur Golding Esq to alienate to John Coo and to William Coo in reversion, the manor of Netherhall with lands in Gestingthorpe, Walter Belchamp, Wethersfield, Castle Hedingham and Yeldham, held in capite of the Crown as is said. John Coo enjoyed the position of manoral landowner but about two months later died in May of 1586. His will dated May 2, 1586 was probated on June 1." (Bartlett, 1911, p. 40)
Who was Roger Gooday and how was he related to Joan Gooday m Henry Golding, the son of Arthur the Translator and Henry Gooday, her father? He may have been Joan's brother. The Golding family and the Coo family were related through marriages that go back to the 15th century although I have not traced the family much beyond the line of John Coe and Margaret Hill. I believe some of the Coe family to have migrated with Thomas Golding to America but need to extend the line to see how Roger Gooday is connected to them.
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The above descendancy may be incorrect, as only one source I’ve found gave John “of Netherhall” Coe to be the son of John Coe and Margaret Hill with William Coe as his brother. At any rate, the two families were connected and proves the two branches of the Golding family were still connected through family ties into the time of Arthur Golding the Translator.
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Arthur Golding married Ursula Royden
In about 1574 he married Ursula Royden. Louis Thorn Golding in his book An Elizabethan Puritan, wrote:
"These frequent moves might indicate that he was still single as no record has been found of where or when he was married. His wife, however was Ursula Roydon, the daughter of John Roydon of Chilham, County Kent. Little is known of her or her family but it appears likely that she was related to Sir Thomas Golding's father having been Thomas Roydon of East Peckham in that County. At any rate indications are that Arthur's marriage had not yet taken place, not only on account of his frequent moves and his residence in other men's houses, but also because he had no children, at least no boys, when his brother Sir Thomas made his will in 1569, nor do we learn of the birth of his eldest son Henry until the child is mentioned in Henry Golding's will early in 1575. We find no record of Arthur's renting a house until 1575 nor of his leasing or owning one until two years later. This, however is not surprising, since Golding as a younger son had to make his own way, especially after the death of his mother." (Golding, 1937, p. 59)
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There are three distinct Royden families, all some of note in their day though now extinct in the male line. The three appear to have had origins quite independent of each other, and yet several coincidences will be noticed. Reydon, Rydon or Rodon as well as other similar forms all in the course of time became Roydon or Royden. The Reydon family of Suffolk, England became the most prominent of the three because they attained the knightly rank in the 13th and 14th centuries were continued in the male line by a younger branch which settled in the northeastern part of Essex County, where their residence is still called Roydon Hall.
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Eustice and John Roydon contributed to a Suffolk subsidy in 1524. John, the brother of Christopher Roydon is mentioned as his nephew by Thomas Roydon of East Peckham in Kent. He is said to have had a son named Edward of Canterbury and a daughter named Ursula, who became the wife of Arthur Golding, half-brother of the Sir Thomas Golding who married Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Roydon. (Three Roydon Families)
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Arthur Golding might have continued his life as a translator if not for the accident of his birth which made him the sole heir of his brother Henry's many properties, many of which were heavily mortgaged. When Arthur acquired them after his brother's death he found himself burdened with debt that would follow him for the rest of his life. Henry Golding was the eldest son of John "of Essex" Golding and Ursula Royden.
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The fact that his father was an auditor of the exchequer makes it likely that he was the Henry Golding who in 1543 was servant to Sir Richard Southwell, first officer of the court of general surveyors but it was Henry's sister Margaret "Margery" Golding through her 1548 marriage to John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford that strengthened both Arthur and Henry's positions in society and in the Earl's household where Henry seems to have been a figure of importance before the close of the following year. Henry also had a close relationship with the Duke of Somerset. Somerset addressed a correspondence to his "loving servant Mr. Golding" from Hampton Court on October 5, 1549 as he faced a challenge to his authority from the Earl of Warwick. Somerset continued to ask of Henry Golding "for the confidence we have in you being our servant" to prepare the "things, servants and ordinary power" of the Earl of Oxford and to place them at Somerset's disposal. This letter survives among the State Papers, which means it was never sent as Somerset probably backed out at the last moment from a trial of armed strength with his opponents. (Henry Golding)
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Henry Golding was definitely not a supporter of Queen Mary, even though the Earl of Oxford was one of the first magistrates to rally for her. In August 1553 Henry and the other servants of the Earl were enjoined to return to heir houses and to be in readiness to appear before the Council when summoned, with the added exhortation that they should "live in such order of obedience to the Queen's Highness and her laws and to allure others to the same as whereby they may herafter redub their faults bypast". It may have been that he was personally suspect or more likely that Oxford was under close scrutiny and as a consequence of being a kinsman and dependent Henry was suspect that caused him to be summoned before the Council in July of 1555. Henry was one of the executors of the Earl's will, which described him as a "trusty servant." (Henry Golding)
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Because of the positions of prominence, he was able to acquire through his association with the Earl of Oxford, Henry was able to amass considerable property in Essex, but whether or not he could afford the purchases is a matter of opinion. By his marriage to Alice Cloville of Hanningfield, who was the widow of George Forster of Little Birch he obtained the manors of Easthorpe and Little Birch. In 1565 he bought lands in Great and Little Clacton, Tendring, Weeley and Thorpe and the manor of Gidea Hall. He was living at Little Birch when he died in December 1576. He had suffered from ill health since about 1569 but had continued his duties as a local official. He and his wife Alice had no children, so by his will made in March 1575 he left the major part of his estate to his brother and executor, Arthur Golding, unfortuantely most of it was heavily mortgaged, having been pledged as security for the debts of a friend. (Henry Golding)
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Excerpt from The WILL OF HENRY GOLDING OF LITTLE BIRCH
“"Provided always and my very meaning is that if my brother Arthur shall by himself or any other by his procurement and assent molest, vex or trouble my well-beloved wife in the quiet possession and holding of such lands as I have assigned to her, then I will my said wife and her assigns shall have, in consideration of the vexing and molestation to be done by my said brother or any other by his assent and procurement all the manor, lands, tenements and hereditaments to her bequeathed by the space of five years after her decease;
Item, I will that my wife shall pay out of the premises all such rents, charge and quit-rents as are and shall be payable out of the same;
Item, I leave to descend unto my brother, Arthur, the moiety of my manors of Easthorpe, Great Birch, and one tenement in Great Birch which I bought lately of one Waynewright and his wife;
Item, I will, in consideration of payment of my debts and legacies, that my executor shall have the profits of my lease of Campes which I hold of the right honourable the Earl of Oxenford by the space of ten years;
The residue of the term which shall remain in my said lease, my debts and legacies being paid, I give unto my brother, George Golding, together with all other my debts, goods moveable and unmoveable not before bequeathed, which said brother George Golding I make and ordain my only executor of this my last will and testament, beseeching him to see my debts paid and this my last will and testament performed according to the trust I repose in him, and also to be aiding and assisting unto my well-beloved wife in anything he may pleasure her.."
His widow was to enjoy certain lands during her life, and he left bequests to his stepdaughters, his servants and the poor of local parishes. The preamble to the will supports his classification in 1564 as a "favorer of religion."
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What did the acquisition of his brother's property do to Arthur Golding? It meant that he spent the remainder of his life in debt and eventually ended up in debtors prison for a period of time. By the time of Arthur's death all of the property had to be sold. One of the properties included the manor of Netherhall, as has been said before was leased by John Coe to George Golding. George purchased the property in 1579 from his nephew, the 17th Earl of Oxford who at that time was busily wrecking the great estate left to him by his father, one of his spendthrift excesses being his tendency to lavish expensive gifts upon Queen Elizabeth I. On New Year's Day 1580 he presented the Queen with a "fair jewel of gold, being a ship garnished fully with diamonds and a mean pearl pendant." The ancient manor of Netherhall had first been part of the dowry of Queen Eleanor and later the dowry of Anne of Bohemia, Richard II's first queen, so if the sale price paid by George Golding went towards the purchase of Elizabeth's gift, Edward de Vere had disposed of for a trifle the proud inheritance of his ancestors. Henry VII had granted Netherhall to John de Vere, the 13th Earl of Oxford, who commanded the victorious Tudor forces at Bosworth. (Golding, 1937, p. 76)
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In 1580 Arthur moved to Essex for a period of time in 1580 and leased the manor from his brother George. Notwithstanding a large body of work and a number of wealthy and influential patrons, Golding's finances reached a low ebb in 1593 when he was put into the Fleet Prison for debt, but possible help came from his family, and Louis Golding suggests that William Brooke, Lord Cobham (a close friend of Cecil), may have been of assistance [Golding, pp.105-106]. Golding died in 1606, as noted in the Parish Register of Belchamp St. Paul's (May 13, 1606): "Mr. Arthur Golding, Esquire."
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Ursula his wife died in 1610 and was buried on 20 February 1610 at Belchamp St. Paul according to the Essex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812
In a short period of time, the fortunes of Arthur Golding the Translator had been virtually eliminated. His great patron Edward De Vere, his sister Margaret's husband was long dead and gone and his nephew Edward, the 17th Earl had busily wrecked the fortune he inherited from his great family. Arthur died struggling to meet his obligations and detached from the work that he loved, but what of Arthur's children, what happened to them? Their lives were not as well documented as their famous father because they did not have the opportunity to live in the reflected light of the great men who were the contemporaries and friends of their father.
According to Louis Thorn Golding there were four sons and four daughters born to Arthur Golding and Ursula Royden.
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Their names were:
1. Henry Golding
2. Percival "of London" Golding - Had a son Percival who became a schoolmaster in Bermuda and died there a very old man.
3. George Golding
4. Thomas Golding
5. Elizabeth Golding
6. Alice Golding
7. Jane Golding
8. Dorothy Golding
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Before investigating the life of at least one of these sons of Arthur Golding, Percival, it would be beneficial to describe the influence the De Vere family had on both the rise of influence of the Golding family and the part they played in their ultimate collapse and disappearance from prominence.
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References
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(n.d.). Retrieved from The Dictionary of National Biography: http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=1981&iid=31205_Vol22-00515&fn=Arthur&ln=Golding&st=r&ssrc=pt_t43926987_p12724356161_kpidz0q3d12724356161z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&pid=89662
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(n.d.). Retrieved from Shakespeare.com: http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Probate/PROB_11-59_ff_57-8.pdf
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(n.d.). Retrieved from Three Roydon Families: https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/34291/GLH_090905__0001_B_07-014/65?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return#?imageId=GLH_090905__0001_C_01-0015
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Bartlett, J. G. (1911). Robert Coe, Puritan: His Ancestors and Descendants 1340-1910. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Privately published. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/robertcoepuritan00bart/page/n5/mode/2up
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Golding, L. T. (1937). An Elizabethan Puritan. New York, New York, USA: Richard R. Smith, publishers. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/elizabethanpurit00gold
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Henry Golding. (n.d.). Retrieved from A History of Parliament: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/golding-henry-1528-76
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The History and Antiquities of Colchester, in the County of Essex by Philip Morant. (n.d.). Retrieved from abebooks: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/history-essex/author/morant/