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LORD GEORGE GORING GORING (1608-1657)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 259 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LORD See also:GEORGE See also:GORING GORING (1608-1657)  , See also:English Royalist soldier, son of See also:George See also:Goring, See also:earl of See also:Norwich, was See also:born on the 14th of See also:July 16o8 . He soon became famous at See also:court for his prodigality and dissolute See also:manners . His See also:father-in-See also:law, See also:Richard See also:Boyle, earl of See also:Cork, procured for him a See also:post in the Dutch ' In 1905 the Rev . Geo . Grenfell reported that he had that summer shot a See also:gorilla in the Bwela See also:country, See also:east of the Mongala affluent of the See also:Congo . See also:army with the See also:rank of See also:colonel . He was permanently lamed by a See also:wound received at See also:Breda in 1637, and returned to See also:England See also:early in 1639, when he was made See also:governor of See also:Portsmouth . He served in the Scottish See also:war, and already had a considerable reputation when he was concerned in the " Army See also:Plot." See also:Officers of the army stationed at See also:York proposed to See also:petition the See also:king and See also:parliament for the See also:maintenance of the royal authority . A second party was in favour of more violent See also:measures, and Goring, in the See also:hope of being appointed See also:lieutenant-See also:general, proposed to See also:march the army on See also:London and overawe the parliament during See also:Strafford's trial . This proposition being rejected by his See also:fellow officers, he betrayed the proceedings to See also:Mountjoy See also:Blount, earl of See also:Newport, who passed on the See also:information in-directly to See also:Pym in See also:April . Colonel Goring was thereupon called on to give See also:evidence before the See also:Commons, who commended him for his services to the See also:Commonwealth . This betrayal of his comrades induced confidence in the minds of the See also:parliamentary leaders, who sent him back to his Portsmouth command .

Nevertheless he declared for the king in See also:

August . He surrendered Portsmouth to the parliament in See also:September 1642 and went to See also:Holland to recruit for the Royalist army, returning to England in See also:December . Appointed to a See also:cavalry command by the earl of See also:Newcastle, he *defeated See also:Fairfax at Seacroft See also:Moor near See also:Leeds in March 1643, but in May he was taken prisoner at See also:Wakefield on the See also:capture of the See also:town by Fairfax . In April 1644 he effected an See also:exchange . At See also:Marston Moor he commanded the Royalist See also:left, and charged with See also:great success, but, allowing his troopers to disperse in See also:search of See also:plunder, was routed by See also:Cromwell at the See also:close of the See also:battle . In See also:November 1644, on his father's See also:elevation to the earldom of Norwich, he became See also:Lord Goring . The parliamentary authorities, however, refused to recognize the creation of the earldom, and continued to speak of the father as Lord Goring and the son as General Goring . In August he had been despatched by See also:Prince See also:Rupert, who recognized his ability, to join See also:Charles in the See also:south, and in spite of his dissolute and insubordinate See also:character he was appointed to supersede See also:Henry, Lord See also:Wilmot, as lieut.-general of the Royalist See also:horse (see GREAT See also:REBELLION) . He secured some successes in the See also:west, and in See also:January 1645 advanced through See also:Hampshire and occupied See also:Farnham; but want of See also:money compelled him to See also:retreat to See also:Salisbury and thence to See also:Exeter . The excesses committed by his troops seriously injured the Royalist cause, and his exactions made his name hated throughout the west . He had himself prepared to besiege See also:Taunton in March, yet when in the next See also:month he was desired by Prince Charles, who was at See also:Bristol, to send reinforcements to See also:Sir Richard See also:Grenville for the See also:siege of Taunton, he obeyed the See also:order only with See also:ill-See also:humour . Later in the month he was summoned with his troops to the See also:relief of the king at See also:Oxford .

Lord Goring had See also:

long been intriguing for an See also:independent command, and he now secured from the king what was practically supreme authority in the west . It was alleged by the earl of Newport that he was willing to See also:transfer his See also:allegiance once more to the parliament . It is not likely that he meditated open See also:treason, but he was culpably negligent and occupied with private ambitions and jealousies . He was still engaged in desultory operations against Taunton when the See also:main See also:campaign of 1645 opened . For the See also:part taken by Goring's army in the operations of the See also:Naseby campaign see GREAT REBELLION . After the decisive defeat of the king, the army of Fairfax marched into the west and defeated Goring in a disastrous fight at See also:Langport on the loth of July . He made no further serious resistance to the parliamentary general, but wasted his See also:time in frivolous amusements, and in November he obtained leave to quit his disorganized forces and retire to See also:France on the ground of See also:health . His father's services secured him the command of some English regiments in the See also:Spanish service . He died at See also:Madrid in July or August 1657 . See also:Clarendon gives him a very unpleasing character, declaring that " " Goring . . . would, without hesitation, have broken any See also:trust, or done any See also:act of treachery to have satisfied an See also:ordinary See also:passion or appetite; and in truth wanted nothing but See also:industry (for he had wit, and courage, and understanding and ambition, uncontrolled by any fear of See also:God or See also:man) to have been as eminent and successful in the highest See also:attempt of wickedness as any man in the See also:age he lived in or before . Of all his qualifications dissimulation was his masterpiece; in which he so much excelled, that men were not ordinarily ashamed, or out of countenance, with being deceived but twice by him." See the See also:life by C .

H . See also:

Firth in the See also:Dictionary of See also:National See also:Biography; See also:Dugdale's Baronage, where there are some doubtful stories of his life in See also:Spain; the Clarendon See also:State Papers; Clarendon's See also:History of the Great Rebellion; and S . R . See also:Gardiner's History of the Great See also:Civil War .

End of Article: LORD GEORGE GORING GORING (1608-1657)
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