Anglo-Irish landowner and politician (1867–1949)
Thomas Clarence Edward Goff
JP
DL (28 May 1867 – 13 March 1949) was an
Anglo-Irish landowner, farmer, and politician who was a great-grandson of
King William IV .
Early life
Goff was born in
London on 28 May 1867. He was the son of
Thomas William Goff (1829–1876) and Dorothea (
née
FitzClarence ) Goff (1845–1870). His mother died when Goff was only three. His father, a
Member of Parliament for
Roscommon and a
captain in the
7th Dragoon Guards , died when Goff was aged nine.
[1]
[2]
Goff's maternal grandparents were the Rev.
Lord Augustus FitzClarence , an illegitimate son of King William IV, and Sarah Elizabeth Catharine Gordon, a granddaughter of
George Gordon, 9th Marquess of Huntly . His paternal grandparents were the Reverend Thomas Goff and Anne (née Caulfeild) Goff, a granddaughter of the
Ven.
John Caulfeild ,
Archdeacon of Kilmore , a niece of
Lt.-Gen.
James Caulfeild , and a great-granddaughter of the
1st Earl of Glandore .
[3]
Goff was educated at
Eton and
Christ Church, Oxford .
[4] After leaving Oxford, "he travelled extensively abroad, both in Europe and America, and returned with a determination to devote himself to political life."
[5]
His elder sister was Ethel Anne Goff, who married Henry de Courcy Agnew, a son of
Sir Andrew Agnew, 8th Baronet , of
Lochnaw , and grandson of
Charles Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough .
[6]
[7]
Career
The Courts in
Holt
Goff was a landowner in four Irish counties and farmed about 800 acres of his own land.
[5]
He was a
Justice of the Peace , and
High Sheriff of Roscommon in 1891 and was also a
London County Councillor .
[8] In
1895 , he was an unsuccessful
Unionist candidate to represent
Buckrose in Yorkshire in the
House of Commons , losing to the
Liberal candidate
Angus Holden by a margin of 90 votes.
[9] In 1899, he was appointed a
Deputy Lieutenant for
County Roscommon .
[10]
[11]
In 1890, Goff was living at Carrowroe Park in Roscommon, Ireland,
[12] a substantial limestone country house with a Doric portico,
[13] which had been occupied by the Rev. William Battersby (who held the property from the
Earl of Essex ) in the 1850s. Battersby was married to Mary Maud Caulfeild, a daughter of the Ven.
John Caulfeild and an aunt of Goff's grandmother Anne.
[12]
In 1921, towards the close of the
Irish War of Independence , Goff purchased
The Courts , an early
Georgian house in Holt, Wiltshire, where the Goffs further developed the gardens, which had been laid out by Sir George Hastings in the early 1900s. The gardens feature an
arboretum , working vegetable garden and orchard, a
Sundial Lawn, and a
folly temple.
[14]
Queen Mary visited the Goffs at Holt. They gave the whole property to the
National Trust in 1943, subject to a life tenancy for their daughter, Moyra Goff, who lived in the main house until her death in 1990.
[15]
Military service
Goff served in the
British Army between 1915 and 1920, becoming
captain in
The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) .
[16] During the
Second World War , Goff commanded the
Holt and
Staverton
Local Defence Volunteers .
[15]
Personal life
Portrait of Goff's daughter Elizabeth Moyra Goff by
Mary Lemon Waller , 1902
On 15 April 1896, Goff married Lady Cecile Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (1874–1960), at
St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge , with
John Egerton, Viscount Brackley , eldest son of the
Earl of Ellesmere , acting as his best man.
[17] The wedding reception was held at 12,
Belgrave Square , the Ancaster residence in London.
[a]
[17] Lady Cecile was the fourth daughter of
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster and Lady Evelyn Elizabeth Gordon, a daughter of
Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly .
[18]
[3] Their London residence was at 46
Pont Street in the
Royal Borough of Kensington ,
[4] and they were the parents of:
[15]
(Elizabeth) Moyra Goff (1897–1990), who never married, travelled to America,
[19] and lived at
The Courts until her death in 1990;
[15] she was the subject of a 1902 portrait by
Mary Lemon Waller .
[20]
Thomas Robert Charles Goff (1898–1975), who was educated at
Eton and
Christ Church, Oxford , and studied the piano with
Irene Scharrer ; he fought in the
First World War and was admitted to the
Middle Temple in 1922, from where he was
called as a
barrister . In 1933 he formed a partnership with J. C. Cobby, a master cabinet maker, to make
clavichords ,
harpsichords and
lutes . He served as
aide-de-camp to the
Governor-General of Canada and in 1959 was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire .
[21]
In 1899, Goff's wife Lady Cecile travelled to India.
[22] In 1930 her book A Woman of the Tudor Age , about her ancestress
Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk , was published.
[23]
Goff died on 13 March 1949, and his widow on 27 July 1960.
[6]
Arms
Coat of arms of Clarence Goff
Notes
Confirmed 7 January 1861 by Sir John Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms.
[24]
Crest
A squirrel sejant Proper charged on the shoulder with a fleur-de-lis Or and holding in its forepaws a nut also Proper.
Escutcheon
Azure on a chevron between two fleur de lis in chief and a demi-lion rampant couped in base Or an annulet Gules.
Motto
Honestas Optima Politia
References
Notes
^ Their wedding reception was attended by
Prince and
Princess Adolphus of Teck , the
Duke and Duchess of St Albans , the
Duke and
Duchess of Sutherland , the
Duke and
Duchess of Buccleuch , the
Marquis and Marchioness of Huntly , the
Earl and Countess of Lonsdale ,
Sir Henry and Lady Evelyn Ewert (Lady Cecile's sister and brother-in-law),
Lady Tryon ,
Mr. and Lady Margaret Ormsby Gore ,
Lord and Lady Magheramorne ,
Lady Augustus FitzClarence (Goff's grandmother), Mr. and Lady Mary Turner, Miss FitzClarence (Goff's cousin), Mr. and Mrs. Henry Agnew (his sister and brother-in-law), Miss Muriel Goff (his sister), Mr. D. Goff, and Mr. and Mrs. C. Goff.
[17]
Sources
^ Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922 . Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 310.
ISBN
978-0901714121 .
^
"House of Commons" . The Scotsman . 6 March 1860. p. 2. Retrieved 8 October 2018 – via
British Newspaper Archive .
^
a
b Walford, Edward (1893).
The County Families of the United Kingdom Or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland . p. 412. Retrieved 14 October 2020 .
^
a
b Walford, Edward (1923).
The County families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland . Dalcassian Publishing Company. p. 543. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
a
b
"BUCKROSE DIVISION.THE UNIONIST CANDIDATE" . The Yorkshire Herald and the York Herald . 27 October 1894. p. 13. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
a
b Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes .
Wilmington, Delaware , U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. p. 48.
^ Sir Bernard Burke, editor, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 7th edition , (
London ,
England : Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1886), volume 1, page 745
^ Bernard Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland , 1912
^
"THE UNIONISTS OF THE BUCKROSE DIVISION.PRESENTATION TO MR. CLARENCE GOFF" . The Yorkshire Herald and the York Herald . 30 October 1896. p. 6. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
"ROSCOMMON" . Western Watchman . 20 July 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1910).
Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour . T.C. & E.C. Jack. p. 767. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
a
b
"Estate Record: Goff" . landedestates.nuigalway.ie .
NUI Galway . Archived from
the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020 .
^
"Carrowroe Park, CARROWROE, County Roscommon" . www.buildingsofireland.ie . Buildings of Ireland. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
Historic England .
"The Courts, Holt (1001230)" .
National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 24 July 2015 .
^
a
b
c
d
"Bradford People: Clarence Goff" . www.bradfordonavonmuseum.co.uk .
Bradford-on-Avon Museum. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
"Major Thomas Clarence Edward GOFF. The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment)" . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk .
The National Archives . Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
a
b
c
"MR. CLARENCE GOFF AND LADY CECILIE WILLOUGHBY" .
The Leeds Mercury . 16 April 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
"Ancaster, Earl of (UK, 1892 - 1983)" . cracroftspeerage.co.uk . Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 14 October 2020 .
^
"NEWS OF SOCIETY" .
Chicago Tribune . 12 January 1921. p. 21. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
"Portrait Of Elizabeth Moyra Goff 1902, By Mary Lemon Waller. | 92523 | www.royprecious.co.uk" . www.royprecious.co.uk . Roy Precious. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^ Schott, Howard (2001).
"Goff, Thomas (Robert Charles)" . www.oxfordmusiconline.com .
Grove Music Online .
doi :
10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.11362 .
ISBN
978-1-56159-263-0 . Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
"India" . The Westminster Budget . 10 February 1899. p. 5. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^ Goff, Lady Cecilie (1930).
A Woman of the Tudor Age (PDF) . John Murray. Retrieved 15 October 2020 .
^
"Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. F" . National Library of Ireland. p. 203. Retrieved 4 July 2022 .