Family and Education

b. c.1540, 2nd s. of William Goodman of Chester by Alice, da. of Ralph Grosvenor, gov. of Chester. educ. L. Inn 1562, called 1577. m. (1) Alice Sampson; (2) Isabell; at least 1s. 3da.

Offices Held

Servant of the Earl of Warwick by 1586; chief serjeant-at-law, co. palatine of Chester 1603.

Biography

Possibly a connexion of Christopher Goodman, the distinguished puritan who assisted in translating the Geneva Bible, Goodman’s father was probably the Chester merchant mentioned in a Privy Council letter of December 1565 as trading in Manchester cottons, and known to have been mayor of Chester at his death on 13 Aug. 1580. Goodman himself, after his call to the bar, held a number of minor offices at his Inn. He was in the Earl of Warwick’s service by the time of the preparation for the election of 1586, when the corporation of Warwick suggested his name to the Earl for one of their borough seats. However, in the event the Earl placed Goodman at Lichfield instead. Goodman was still in the Earl’s service about a year before the latter’s death. Goodman made his will 29 Mar. 1603. In it he left a life interest in his Cheshire and Somerset lands to his widow, whom he appointed sole executrix. The will was proved 10 Sept. 1604. Goodman was succeeded by his son William, who settled at Royston, Hertfordshire.

J. C. Wedgwood, Staffs. Parl. Hist. (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc.), i. 385-6; Vis. Cheshire (Harl. Soc. xviii), 106; PRO Lists and Indexes, xl. 202; Ormerod, Cheshire, ii(2), 727; APC, vii. 308; CSP Dom. 1547-80, pp. 601, 669, 673; Black Bk. of Warwick, ed. Kemp, 388; Lansd. 65, f. 14; PCC 77 Harte.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.E.M.

Notes