Peter Godfrey (1665–1724) was a British merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1724. Godfrey was the second son of Michael Godfrey, merchant of London, and his wife Anna Maria Chamberlain, daughter of Sir Thomas Chamberlain of

Woodford, Essex Woodford is a town in East London, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located north-east of Charing Cross. Woodford historically formed an ancient parish in the county of Essex. It contained a string of agrarian villages and was part ...

. He was the nephew of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, the magistrate who was murdered in 1678 after receiving Titus Oates's depositions concerning the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...

. Peter's elder brother Michael Godfrey was one of the founders of, and the first Deputy Governor of, the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

. Godfrey married by licence dated 29 October 1692, Catherine Goddard, daughter of Thomas Goddard, merchant, of Nun's Court, Coleman Street, London. She died in 1706, and he married as his second wife Catherine Pennyman, daughter of Sir Thomas Pennyman, 2nd Baronet, of Ormesby, Yorkshire. Godfrey succeeded his brother Michael in July 1695 when the latter was killed by a stray cannon shot while surveying the scene at the Siege of Namur.Luttrell, ''Historical Relation of State Affairs'', 1857, iii 503
/ref> He was a Director of the Bank of England from 1695 to 1698, and a Director of the

New East India Company New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

from 1698 to 1699. He was a Director of the East India Company from 1710 to 1714 and from 1715 to 1718. At the

1713 general election Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take re ...

Godfrey was defeated in the City of London constituency on the platform of an anti-French commercial treaty. He was returned for that constituency at the

1715 general election Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

, and was classed as a Whig in one list of the Parliament and as a Tory in another. He voted against the Government in all recorded divisions. In November 1721, he presented a petition from the owners of redeemable stock asking that the two million pounds owed to the Government by the South Sea Company should be used to compensate them for their losses, but it was unsuccessful. In January 1722, he supported a motion for the repeal of the clauses of the Quarantine Act that gave emergency powers to the Government. He was re-elected for the City of London at the 1722 general election. Godfrey died on 10 November 1724. He had six sons and a daughter by his first wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey, Peter 1665 births 1724 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727