second Sir Francis had six sons, of whom William, the eldest, was made a baronet 29 April 1661; Henry, the fourth, became provost of Eton [see Godolphin, Henry]; and Charles, the fifth, who died in 1720, was buried in Westminster Abbey. The two last married descendants of John, the younger brother of Sir William (d. 1613). Sidney, the third son, was at an early age placed in the household of Charles II. The statement (Collins, Peerage, vii. 301) that Charles, when visiting Cornwall as Prince of Wales (i.e. in 1646), took ‘particular notice’ of Godolphin is hardly probable, as Godolphin was then under two years of age. He became page of honour to the king 29 Sept. 1662, was groom of the bedchamber 1672–8, and master of the robes 1678. He held a commission in the army for a short time in 1667. He represented Helston in the House of Commons from 1668 to 1679, and St. Mawes from 1679 to 1681. He was sent to Holland in 1678 (Danby's ‘Letters’ (1710), pp. 346–364, gives his instructions and some letters; see also Temple, Works, i. 352) to take part in some of the negotiations preceding the peace of Nimeguen. On 26 March 1679 he was appointed a lord of the treasury. Laurence Hyde, afterwards Lord Rochester, became first lord in the following November. Hyde, Sunderland, and Godolphin were thought to be deepest in the king's confidence (ib. p. 440), and were known as ‘the Chits’ (see Christie, Shaftesbury, ii. 353). In the obscure intrigues of the following period Godolphin allied himself with Sunderland, deserting James and favouring concession to Shaftesbury and the exclusion party. The Duchess of Portsmouth was in alliance with them. James regarded Godolphin as one of his worst opponents (see Clarendon Correspondence, i. 68); and Barillon reported him to be in the interest of the Prince of Orange, with whom he corresponded at this time (Dalrymple, Memoirs, i. 362, and App. to pt. i. bk. i. p. 70). He succeeded, however, in retaining favour after the fall of Shaftesbury. On 14 April 1684 he succeeded Sir Leoline Jenkins as secretary of state. When Rochester was ‘kicked up stairs,’ in the language of his rival, Halifax, into the office of lord president, Godolphin succeeded him at the head of the treasury. Immediately afterwards (28 Sept.) he was created Baron Godolphin of Rialton. Charles II praised Godolphin as a man who was ‘never in the way and never out of the way,’ and probably found him a useful servant with no troublesome opinions of his own. On the death of Charles, Rochester became lord high treasurer, and Godolphin was appointed chamberlain to the queen (Mary of Modena). He was among the most trusted of James's ministers at the beginning of the reign. He took part in the disgraceful secret negotiations with Louis XIV, and did not scruple to attend mass with the king. He had, it was commonly said, a romantic attachment to the queen (see Swift, Four Last Years; Dartmouth's note to Burnet, Own Time, i. 621; Addit. MS. 4222, f. 62), who was guided by the jesuits. On the fall of Rochester in January 1687, which marked the triumph of the extreme catholic party, the treasury was again put in commission, and Godolphin became one of the commissioners under Lord Bellasyse. On 14 July 1688 he was made keeper of Cranborne Chase in Windsor Forest. His house there is described by Evelyn. About the end of William's reign he sold it to Anne and settled in Godolphin House, on the site of Stafford House, St. James's Park. He adhered to James till the last; he was one of the council of five appointed to remain in London when James advanced to Salisbury, and he was sent with Halifax and Nottingham to treat with the Prince of Orange at Hungerford in December.
Godolphin, like the other tories, voted for a regency in the debates which followed the revolution. In William's first ministry he was again named (8 April 1689) one of the commissioners of the treasury. Two strong whigs, Mordaunt and Delamere, were placed above him; but Godolphin's experience in business made him the most important member of the board. He retired for some unexplained reason in March 1690, but was placed at the head of the commission 15 Nov. 1690, and continued in that position for the next six years. In 1691 he was one of the first statesmen to whom the Jacobite agents applied, and after some coyness he began a correspondence with the court of St. Germain (Clarke, James II, ii. 444). In 1693 he was one of the chief persons whom Charles Middleton, earl of Middleton [q. v.], consulted on behalf of James. In May 1694 he sent intelligence to James of the intended expedition to Brest, and his message was received a day before the similar message from Marlborough (Macpherson, Original Papers, i. 457, 483. Mr. Elliot disputes the truth of Godolphin's Jacobite dealings at this time because he could not have given ‘good advice’ to both William and James. Godolphin probably wished to be on both sides). Godolphin continued to maintain a correspondence with the exiled family to the end of his career, and was supposed to be more sincere than Marlborough. Although the ministry was now composed chiefly of whigs, Godolphin's official knowledge caused him to
