G.'s inquiry (Vol. i., p. 22.) about the two Gorings of the Civil War--a
period of our history in which I am much interested--has led me to look
into some of the sources of original information for that time, in the hope
that I might be enabled to answer his Queries. I regret I cannot yet answer
his precise questions, when Lord Goring the son was married, and when and
where he died? but I think the following references to notices of the
father and the son will be acceptable to him; and I venture to think that
the working out in this way of neglected biographies, is one of the many
uses to which your excellent periodical may be applied.
Confusion has undoubtedly been made between the father and son by careless
compilers. But whoever carefully reads the passages of contemporary writers
relating to the two Gorings, and keeps in mind that the title of Earl of
Norwich, given by Charles I. in November, 1644, to the father, was not
recognised by the parliamentary party, will have no difficulty in
distinguishing between the two. Thus it will be seen in two of the passages
which I subjoin from Carte's _Letters_, that in 1649 a parliamentarian
calls the father Lord Goring, and Sir Edward Nicholas calls him Earl of
Norwich.
Burke, in his _Dormant and Extinct Peerages_, vol. iii., makes the mistake
of giving to the father the son's proceedings at Portsmouth at the
beginning of the Civil War.
Lord Goring the son, then Colonel Goring, commanding a regiment in the Low
Countries, was, at the siege of Breda, September, 1637, severely wounded in
the leg, and had a narrow escape of losing it. Sir William Boswell, the
English ambassador at the Hague, writes to Bramhall, then Bishop of Derry,
and afterwards Archbishop of Armagh:--
"Colonel Goring having the guard of the English in the approaches, was
shot so dangerously cross the shin of his leg, a little above his
ankle, as the chirurgion at first resolved to cut off his leg to save
his life; but upon second thoughts, and some opposition by one of them
against four, they forebare; and now, thanks be to God, he is gotten
out of danger of losing life or leg this bout: his excellent merits
caused a great sorrow at his misfortune, and now as great comfort in
the hope of his recovery"--(_Rawdon Papers_, p. 39.)
That the son was already married to Lady Letitia Boyle at Christmas, 1641,
appears from a letter of the Earl of Cork, the lady's father, to the Earl
of Norwich (at that time Lord Goring), in Lord Orrery's _State Letters_
(vol. i. p. 5. Dublin edition):--
"I have scarce time to present my service to you and your lady, and to
George and my poor Letitia, whom God bless."
In Carte's _Collection of Letters_ (vol. i. p. 359.) {66} is a letter from
Lord Byron, dated "Beauvois, March 1-11, 1650," to the Marquis of Ormond,
stating that Lord Goring the son has come to Beauvois, and is on his way to
Spain, about the settlement of a pension which had been promised him there,
and also to endeavour to get arms and money for the King's service in
Ireland; and that, having settled his business in Spain, he desires nothing
better than to serve as a volunteer under Ormond for King Charles. Lord
Byron strongly recommends Ormond to avail himself of Goring's services:--
"I am confident my Lord Goring may be serviceable to your Excellence in
many respects, and therefore have rather encouraged him in this his
resolution, than any ways dehorted him from it; and especially because
he is to pass by the Spanish Court, where he hath such habitudes, by
reason of the service both his father and he hath done that crown."
In an intercepted letter of a parliamentarian, dated Jan. 8, 1649, which is
in Carte's _Letters_ (vol. i. p. 201.), is the following mention of the
Earl of Norwich, then under sentence of death by the High Court of
Justice:--
"Our great minds say, Thursday the King shall die, and two or three
great Lords with him, Capel and Loughborough being two of them. Goring
hath gotten Ireton to friend, who excuses him yet."
Sir E. Nicholas writes, April 8, 1649, to the Marquis of Ormond, that the
Earl of Norwich (as he styles him) has been reprieved at the suit of the
Spanish and Dutch ambassadors. (Carte's _Letters_, vol. i. p. 247.)
In the following passage of a speech, in the discussions about the House of
Lords in Richard Cromwell's Parliament, there is no doubt that the Earl of
Norwich is referred to as Lord Goring: and I should infer that George Lord
Goring the son was then dead, as he had unquestionably done more than
enough to forfeit his privileges in the view of Commonwealth men:--
"What hath the son of Lord Goring or Lord Capel done to forfeit their
right?"--(Burton's _Diary_, iii. 421. Feb. 22. 1659.)
George Lord Goring the son is referred to in another speech preserved in
Burton's _Diary_, and is there called "young Lord Goring." (iii. 206.)
Pepys mentions the return of "Lord Goring" from France, April 11, 1660
(vol. i. p. 54.). Lord Braybrooke's note says that this was "Charles, who
succeeded his father as second Earl of Norwich." Is it certain that this
was not the old Earl of Norwich himself?
The death of the old Earl of Norwich is thus chronicled in Peck's
_Desiderata Curiosa_, p. 542.:--
"Jan. 6. 1662-3, died Lord Goring on his passage by land from Hampton
Court to London, at Brainford, about eighty years of age: he was Earl
of Norwich."