GOULD, James I (1593-1676), of Dorchester, Dorset.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1661 - Feb. 1676

Family and Education

bap. 21 July 1593, 2nd s. of John Gould (d.1630) of Dorchester by Joan, da. of John Benvenewe of Abbotsbury, wid. of John Roy of Weymouth. m. 28 Apr. 1624 (with £500) Margery, da. of George Savage of Bloxworth, 6s. 2da.1

Offices Held

Mayor, Dorchester 1637-8, senior alderman 1661-d.; commr. for assessment, Dorset 1652, 1661-9, sheriff 1655-6, commr. for recusants 1675.2

Biography

Gould’s father, the younger son of a Devonshire county family, became a merchant in Dorchester, and Gould inherited the business. A prominent opponent of ship-money, in the Civil War and Interregnum he took a more cautious line than most of his kinsmen or fellow-tradesmen. He advanced £300 to Parliament in 1643, but claimed to have been ousted from the administration of a charitable trust ‘for his loyalty’ in the fateful month of January 1649.3

Gould first sat for Dorchester in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament, but was narrowly defeated by John Whiteway at the general election of 1660. With all his family he signed the loyal address from Dorset presented to the King. He was successful in 1661, at the age of 67, but he was not an active Member of the Cavalier Parliament. He was named to 18 committees, including three concerned with the woollen industry in 1661-2, those considering bills to prevent the import of wool-cards, to regulate the Yorkshire cloth trade and to prohibit the export of raw wool. He probably supported the country party, but after the 1668 session his name disappears from the Journals. He was clearly by this time a man of great wealth; rumour put his income at £10,000 a year. In August 1675 he was dismissed as very aged and sick, and he was buried on 15 Feb. 1676 at Holy Trinity, Dorchester.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Devon, 421; Eg. 784, f. 41v.; N. and Q. clxvi. 422-3.
  • 2. Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 354; C. H. Mayo, Dorchester Recs. 715; Cal. Treas. Bks. iv. 695.
  • 3. SP16/319/89; CSP Dom. 1638-9, p. 421; Mayo, Dorset Standing Committee, 245; Dorchester Recs. 627.
  • 4. Dorchester Recs. 436, 718; Address of Nobility and Gentry of Dorset; CSP Dom. 1675-9, p. 263; Hutchins, ii. 387; R. Granville, Hist. Granville Fam. 354; Soc. of Genealogists, Holy Trinity reg.