Charles Old Goodford

Who was Charles Old Goodford?

Charles Old Goodford was an English headmaster, provost of Eton College.

Goodford was the second son of John Goodford of Chilton-Cantelo, Somersetshire, who died in 1835, by Charlotte, fourth daughter of Montague Cholmeley of Easton, Lincolnshire. He entered Eton in 1826, and proceeded to King's College, Cambridge, in 1830, whence he took his B.A. 1836, M.A. 1839, and D.D. 1853.

He was elected a fellow of his college, but did not long retain his fellowship, as on 28 March 1844 he married Katharine Lucia, third daughter of George Law of Lincoln's Inn. While still an undergraduate he returned to Eton and became an assistant-master in 1835. It was not long before he succeeded his former tutor, John Wilder, in charge of a large and important schoolhouse, in which a number of the resident boys were from his own and the adjacent counties. As a house-master he was liberal and kind, but his management was not equal to his good intentions. In 1853 he succeeded Edward Craven Hawtrey, D.D., as head-master at Eton. His rule on the whole was beneficial to the college.