Goodrich, Thomas

Goodrich, Thomas, an eminent English divine, was born at East Kirly, Lincolnshire, about 1480. He studied at Corpus Christi. College, Cambridge, graduated at Jesus College in 1510, and became proctor of the university in 1515. In 1529 he gained great favor with Henry VIII by pronouncing himself against the validity of that prince's marriage with Catharine. He was successively appointed rector of St. Peter's; London, canon of St. Stephen's, Westminster, and chaplain of the king. In 1534 he was elected bishop of Ely, and showed himself a zealous supporter of the Reformation. He took an active part in the organization of the English Church, was one of the theologians commissioned to examine the translation of the N.T., to compile the Common Prayer-book of 1548, and the Institution of a Christian Man, called also the Bishops' Book, with the collaboration of Cranmer, Stokesley, Gardiner, Sampson, Latimer, etc. Goodrich was a member of the privy councils under Henry VIIIs and Edward VI, who also employed him several times as ambassador. In 1551 he was appointed lord chancellor of England. This office he lost when queen Mary ascended the throne but he retained his bishopric, and died May 10, 1554. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 21:261; Hook, Eccles. Biog. 5:338; Burnet, Hist. of Engl. Reformation, 2:214, 291, 427.