2:4 Golding of Suffolk
Robert “of Bury St. Edmunds” Golding
​
Robert “of Bury St. Edmunds” Golding and the Jamestown connection
Robert "of Bury St. Edmunds" Golding was born probably in Otley and by my estimation in about the year about 1545, but that is not based on any documented evidence, indeed even his parentage had not been absolutely determined. He married Martha Judde, the daughter of Sir Andrew "Lord Mayor of London" Judde and Mary Mirfyn on June 1, 1571 at Latton, St. Mary the Virgin in Essex, England. Robert Golding died in 1611 and his wife survived him by only two years and they are both buried in the Church of St. Mary's in Bury St Edmunds. There is a plaque on that church that commemorates the achievements of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, the son in law of Robert Golding and Martha Judde and it reads:
​
In memory of
CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD
explorer and 'prime mover' behind the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, where he died 22 August 1607. Also of his family buried in this churchyard: his wife Mary (d. 1665); her parents Robert and Martha Golding (d. 1611 and 1614); and his daughter Martha (d. 1598) hence Martha's Vineyard 1602. (Captain Bartholomew Gosnold)
​
The Historic Jamestown website offers information about the discovery of the final resting place of who they think is Captain Bartholomew Gosnold in 2002 by the Jamestown Rediscovery team. A grave was found just outside the western corner of James's Fort and grave goods indicated the person was of high rank. Contained within were metal portions of a captain's leading staff and the nail pattern that was left after the deterioration of the wooden coffin suggested it was gable-lidded, another indicator of status. The Smithsonian took the skeleton and did forensic analysis on it and determined that it belonged to a European male who stood about 5 1/2 feet tall and who died in his mid to late thirties. Gosnold died when he was thirty-six. (Captain Bartholomew Gosnold)
​
Robert Golding was a Bury Lawyer
Robert Golding was a lawyer of some prominence and was obviously well-respected by both his family and the citizens of Bury St. Edmunds where he was in practice. There is some ambiguity about who his parents were and some claim he was the son of John and Christian Golding of Eye, primarily because he served as recorder for the town of Eye, but it is more plausible that he was the son Robert named in the will of Robert "of Beauchamp" Golding, son of John "of Beauchamp".
​
He was a lawyer of the Inner Temple who was appointed "Reader" or honorary lecturer in 1579 and twice more in 1588 and he was Treasurer of the Inner Temple from 1589 to 1590. By that time he was established and was married to Martha Judde and was enjoying the benefits of being a member of the powerful Judde family through his association with his wife's father who was Lord Mayor of London. Through that family and through the Gosnolds, the Goldings were able to mingle in the highest levels of English society, and they were certainly included in the early discussions at Otley Hall that centered around an ambitious plan to plant an English colony across the sea in Virginia. It would take adventurers who came from daring stock to make such plan a reality, and the young Bartholomew Gosnold and his brother Anthony were such men. Bartholomew joined the Golding family when he on June 19, 1595 wed Mary, one of the daughters of Robert Golding and Martha. He attended Cambridge University and was trained for the law but evidently did not find that occupation very stimulating, so when he made the acquaintence of Sir Walter Raleigh, he was eager to accept the accompany that explorer on a preliminary attempt to found a colony in Virginia. That first attempt failed but it did not deter Bartholomew Gosnold from making another voyage in 1602 to the more northern coast of the New World. (Gauldin)
​
Bartholomew Gosnold was Robert Golding's son-in-law
Beginning in about the year 1605 Gosnold and others began to recruit supporters, many of whom were from his own family to form what became the Virginia Company of London. Mary Gosnold's cousin Sir Thomas Smythe became the company treasurer and Bartholomew's cousin Edward Maria Wingfield assumed the role of a leading member. In his Generall Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624) John Smith is careful to identify Captain Gosnold as 'one of the first movers of this plantation.' With Wingfield he was able to raise interest in the endeavor and in the end recruited about forty participants, the majority of whom were the younger sons of the gentry families that he was personally in acquaintance with.
​
How many of the younger generation of the Golding family were there, sitting before the fireplace at Otley Hall, listening to stories of adventure, no one can say but at least six of the adventurers were directly related to the Gosnolds, and there was one of their number named George Golding who was one of the 150 passengers who left Blackwall, London on December 20, 1606 in three Virginia Company ships. They were the Susan Constant, commanded by Captain Christopher Newport, the Godspeed with Captain Bartholomew Gosnold at the helm and the Discovery, sailing under the command of Captain John Ratcliffe.
​
After six weeks they reached their destination of Cape Henry, Virginia with 105 survivors of the voyage. George Golding is identified as one of the men who lived to disembark on the shores of Virginia on April 30, 1607 and he is listed in Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary by Martha W. McCartney, 2007 as "George Golding, laborer". He is referred to in that book as "probably a cousin of Bartholomew Gosnold". George Golding did not survive; he died within a few months of sickness and starvation, as did Bartholomew Gosnold himself. Anthony Gosnold, the brother of Bartholomew drowned about a year after his brother's death, in the year 1608 or 1609 when he and several other members of the company were in a boat headed for Hog Island, one of the barrier islands off the coast of Virginia. His body was never recovered. (Gauldin)
​
The will of Dame Mary Judde
It isn't know whether the generous bequests bestowed by Dame Mary Judde on her family had anything to do with financing these ambitious plans, but it is certainly the case that Robert Golding the Bury Lawyer was held in such high esteem by his own mother-in-law that she named him as a co-Executor to her 1602 will. Dame Mary Judde was a very wealthy woman, and she married several times. Sir Anthony Gosnold was her third husband, and he was an adventurer in his own rights, having taken part in his youth in an expedition of the Merchant's Company which used to transport their goods to the North of Russia in their own ships made from the hollow trunks of trees. Merchandise was then towed up the River Siwns to Vologda and from there was carried across country by a seven day's journey to Yarolslav and further on to the shores of the Caspian Sea. Sir Anthony died many years before his wife, but the stories of his many adventures probably lived after him, and only added to the fervor that inspired members of the Golding and Gosnold family to seek out experiences of their own.
​
Dame Judde left the following provisions in her very long will, written in 1596 and probated in 1601, specifically for her son-in-law Robert Golding and her daughter Martha. (Greene)
​
"Item, I give and bequeath unto Mr. Robert Golding, my son-in-law, and Martha, his wife, my daughter, these things following, that is, the bedstead and bed in that chamber which is called the Queen’s chamber and all the furniture wherewith they are furnished, and the hangings of that chamber with all other implements of household in the same whatsoever.
Item, I give unto them my best featherbed and bolster in the green chamber, the bolster lying in the press of the next chamber, my best coverlet of tapestry which is in the press next the Queen’s chamber, one Turkey carpet for a cupboard, one Turkey carpet lying on the table in the great parlour, a window cloth with flowers being the longest in the press, one long pillow of crimson velvet wrought, one long pillow of yellow satin embroidered, two square cushions of crimson satin embroidered, six cushions which stand in the great parlour with pomegranates and roses, one pair of woollen blankets, one pair of fustian blankets, one tawny Irish mantel, a red rug, two high stools of wrought velvet, one velvet chair which standeth in the great parlour.
​
Item, more I give unto them these parcels of linen: one damask tablecloth and a long towel to the same, one dozen of damask napkins, one ewery towel of damask, one cupboard cloth of damask, two cover-panes of damask, one diaper tablecloth and a long towel to the same, one dozen of diaper napkins, one ewery towel of diaper, one cupboard cloth of diaper, one fine plain tablecloth and a long towel to the same, two dozen of fine plain napkins, one plain fine ewery towel, one plain fine cupboard cloth, three pair of fine sheets, three pair of new flaxen sheets, six pair of new canvas sheets, six fine pillowberes, four down pillows..
Item, more I give unto them these parcels of plate, that is, my second basin and ewer parcel gilt, two livery pots parcel gilt, one nest of gilt goblets with a cover which were Sir Andrew Judde’s two gilt tankards, one dozen of Apostle spoons, six silver plates, a costed(?) salt with a cover.
​
More I give to my daughter Golding my ring of gold with the best ruby, a quilt of yellow and blue sarsenet, a silver pillow with my arms on it, my coach with the stone-horses thereto belonging and their furniture"
Dame Judde made provision for her granddaughter Mary, the daughter of Robert Golding and Mary Judde.
“Item, I give unto Mary Gosnold, my grandchild, the hangings, bedstead and bed with all the furniture in that chamber which is called my son [son-in-law] Golding’s chamber, and all the household stuff in that chamber."
Robert Golding and William Tyffin acquired the manor of Little Birch from Arthur Golding and his brother Henry.
​
There is another occasion on record in which Robert Golding the Lawyer is called upon by family members to offer his counsel when a cousin found himself in debt and in need of assistance. That cousin was Arthur Golding, the son of John "of Essex" Golding, and he was an academic remembered in history as the translator of some of the greatest works of classical literature. Louis Thorne Golding, in his book An Elizabethan Puritan, an extensive biography of the life of his distant ancestor Arthur Golding of Essex, wrote that Arthur Golding and his brother Henry turned over in 1586 the manor house of Little Birch and it's appurtenances as well as two hundred acres of land , fifty acres of pasture, thirty acres of woodland and 10s rent in Little Birch, Great Birch and Copford for which the plaintiffs Robert Golding and Tyffin gave 200 pounds.
​
Louis Thorn Golding further states that "Tyffin was the lawyer who was trustee for Arthur Golding's brother Sir Thomas Golding for the lease of Belchamp St Paul's and ROBERT GOLDING was probably ARTHUR'S SECOND COUSIN, then a leading member of the Inner Temple. (Golding)
​
In the Close Rolls, 28 Elizabeth Part 25, November 28, 1586 we find the following entry:
"Arthur Golding of London acknowledge that he owed L1000 to Richard Atkins of London gentleman, which if not paid should be levied on his lands."
As the amount paid was but a fraction of the value of the property, it is probable that this conveyance to two lawyers, closely connected to him, was not really a sale but a device to help Arthur escape his creditors. When he was fighting Cryspe ten years before he had borrowed heavily from others as well as from Andrew."
​
The above information is less important to relate a transfer of property than it is to establish that there were two lines of the Golding family, one of the line of Arthur Golding and his connections to the de Vere family, the Earls of Oxford and the other connected to the Bacon family and the Gosnolds, through whom they joined the long line of adventurers who went to Virginia and Massachusetts. The descendants of Arthur Golding on the other hand made their way eventually to New York and settled there. The two family lines remain distinct and do not overlap but their descendants both went through Bermuda on the way to their eventual destinations.
​
References
​
Captain Bartholomew Gosnold. (n.d.). Retrieved from Historic Jamestowne: https://historicjamestowne.org/history/captain-bartholomew-gosnold-gosnoll/
​
Captain Bartholomew Gosnold. (n.d.). Retrieved from Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41616436/bartholomew-gosnold
​
Gauldin, C. L. (n.d.).
​
Golding, L. T. (n.d.). An Elizabethan Puritan.
​
Greene, N. (n.d.). Retrieved from Oxford-Shakespeare.com: www.http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com