GODOLPHIN, SIDNEY GODOLPHIN, EARL OF (c.
1645-1712), English statesman was a cadet of an ancient family of Cornwall. At the Restoration he was introduced into the royal household by Charles II., with whom he had become a favourite, and at the same period he entered the House of Commons as member for Helston. Although he very seldom addressed the House, he gradually acquired a reputation as its chief financial authority. In March 1679 he was appointed a member of the privy council, and in the September following he was promoted, with Hyde (afterwards earl of Rochester) and Sunderland, to the chief management of affairs. Though he voted for the Exclusion bill in 168o, he was continued in office after the dismissal of Sunderland, and in September 1684 he was created Baron Godol phin of Rialton, and succeeded Rochester as first lord of the treasury. After the accession of James II. he was made chamber lain to the queen, and, with Rochester and Sunderland, enjoyed the king's special confidence.
In 1687 Godolphin was named commissioner of the treasury. He was one of the council of five appointed by King James to represent him in London, when he went to join the army after the landing of William, prince of Orange, in England, and was afterwards appointed a commissioner to treat with the prince. Under William III. he became first lord of the treasury in 1690, and, while holding this office he maintained, in conjunction with Marlborough, a treacherous intercourse with James II. Godol phin was not only a Tory by inheritance, but had a romantic admiration for the wife of James II. After Fenwick's confes sion in 1696 regarding the attempted assassination of William III., Godolphin, who was compromised, resigned; but when the Tories came into power in 1700, he wWs again appointed lord treasurer and retained office for about a year. Though not a favourite with Queen Anne, he was, after her accession, appointed to his old office, on the strong recommendation of Marlborough. In 1704 he was knighted, and in 1706 he received an earldom. The influ ence of the Marlboroughs with the queen was, however, gradually supplanted by that of Mrs. Masham and Harley, earl of Oxford, and with the fortunes of the Marlboroughs those of Godolphin were indissolubly united. After the Tory reaction which followed the impeachment of Dr. Sacheverel, the queen abruptly dis missed Godolphin from office on Aug. 7, 1710. He died on Sept. 15, 1712.
Godolphin owed his rise to power and his continuance in it under four sovereigns chiefly to his exceptional mastery of finan cial matters. He received Marlborough's support mainly because Marlborough recognized that for the prosecution of England's foreign wars his financial abilities were indispensable. He was cool, reserved and cautious.
Godolphin married Margaret Blagge, whose life was written by Evelyn, on May 16, 1675, and married again after her death in 5678.