Thomas Godwyn

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Thomas Godwyn, DD, (1587 – 1643), headmaster and scholar, was the second son of Anthony Godwyn of Wookey, Somerset. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford at the age of fifteen and between 1604 and 1610 was a demy of the college. He graduated BA on 24 January 1607 and proceeded MA on 11 October 1609.

On leaving the university Godwin was appointed chief master of Abingdon School, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), where he remained for several years(1608-25). While there he established an innovative scholarship for poor boys, the ‘Bennett boys’. Godwyn became the first fellow of the newly founded Pembroke College, Oxford (1624), became chaplain to the Bishop of Bath and Wells and rector of Brightwell, Berkshire (1626-43).

Godwyn was a voluminous writer, and about 1614 he published Florilegium Phrasicon and Romanae Historiae Anthologia, both for the use of Abingdon School. These were the only school text books on the subject for a century. He also wrote a Synopsis of Hebrew Antiquities, and in 1625 Moses and Aaron. In his preface to Roman Antiquities, Godwyn gives a picture of the difficulties of writing his book in the noisy surroundings of the school room. "If it fail to please, put it down to the whispered chatterings of the noisy boys amongst whom the work had its origin; but if approved ascribe it to the continuous questionings of the boys."

Godwyn died at Brightwell on 20 March 1642 and was buried in the chancel of his church, where a monument was erected by his widow, Philippa Teesdale

[edit] See also

• Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680), Puritan leader (not to be confused with the above; although Godwyn's name is also spelled Goodwin, for instance in some library catalogues)

[edit] References

• T. Hinde and M. St J. Parker, The martlet and the griffen: an illustrated history of Abingdon School, 1997
• S. Clarke, The lives of sundry eminent persons in this later age, 1683