Richard Goode
Mayor of Oxford 1601/2 and 1606/7
Richard Goode or Good (c.1555–1609) was an Oxford tallow chandler in All Saints (then commonly known as Allhallowes) parish. He was an apprentice of Alderman Ralph Flexney of St Michael’s parish, and was admitted free during Flexney’s mayoral year 1577–8, after he had completed his apprenticeship.
Goode was chosen to come on the Common Council on 4 October 1583, paying 3s. 4d. as a fee for not having served as Constable before coming on to the Council.
On 29 March 1584 the Council agreed that Goode should have a lease of a tenement in St Ebbe’s for 41 years, "slattinge all the howses which are nowe thatched within two years". This tenement occupied the site of 36–38 Church Street, and included a garden and orchard.
Around this time Goode and his first wife, Mary, had eight children, including William and Richard.
In 1587 Goode was made a Chamberlain and in 1589 a Bailiff. On 8 June he was elected one of the Thirteen Associates (the twelve men, including the Aldermen, who with the Mayor formed the Mayor’s Council), paying £5 to the keykeepers to the use of the City.
Goode’s first wife, Mary, was buried in All Saints Church on 28 September 1593. His second wife was Frideswide Dodwell, sister of Alderman Henry Dodwell (Mayor in 1592)
On 12 January 1601 Goode was elected an Alderman, and on 14 September in the same year he was elected Mayor, requesting that Stephen Fairebeard should have a Chamberlain’s place. At the end of his mayoral year he requested that Philip Dodwell (doubtless a relation of his new wife) should have a Chamberlain’s place.
In November 1602 Goode’s eldest son, William, was admitted to his freedom for a gilt penny paid by his father.
On 4 May 1603 it was agreed that Goode should be one of the group attending the Mayor at the Coronation of King James I in London on 25 July, but in the event no one from outside London was allowed to attend because of plague.
In September 1606 Goode was elected Mayor a second time.
Alderman Goode died in 1609 and was buried in All Saints Church on 14 August. Anthony Wood describes his monument thus:
Here lyeth the body of Richard Good, gent., chandler, alderman of this citie and twyse mayor of the same. He had two wives Mary and Frideswide; by the former he had four sonnes and 4 daughters. He dyed in a good tyme, full of dayes and prayse the 12 of Aug. 1609.
Vota dedisse deo, miseris alimenta dedisse
Si bona res, Goodum praebuit esse bonum.
Quis neget in coelis igitur requiescere Goodum?
Nam Christi vox est sacra "venite boni".Mary his first wife was buried here 28 Sept. 1593. Richard his son, alderman of the citie, buried here also 5 Dec. 1639/ William Good, alderman, brother to Richard the son was also buried here.
Goode’s third wife, Mrs Fridewide Goode, was buried at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 8 December 1622. Anthony Wood records:
On another brass plate under the effigies of a woman:– Here lyeth the body of Frideswyde Goode, late wife of Richard Goode, late alderman of this citie, who deceased the 18 November 1623. In the regester thus, Frideswide Good, vidua, sepultus [sic] 8 Dec. 1622, so that here you see is a fault somewhere.
Goode’s elder son, William, continued his father’s chandlery business and became an Alderman and Mayor of Oxford; his younger son Richard also became an Alderman.
See also:
- William Goode, Mayor 1628/9 (his son)
- Clark, Andrew (ed.), The Life and Times of Anthony Wood, Antiquary, of Oxford, 1632–1695, Described by Himself : five volumes, including index (Oxford, 1891, reprinted for the Oxford Historical Society in 1992 by Antony Rowe Ltd), Vol II, pp. 339-40 (death of John Goode of Balliol College, including a family tree showing his descent from Richard Goode, "twice mayor of Oxon")
- MS Wills Oxon W. I. 193/344; 25/3/19