He was born at
Godolphin House,
Cornwall, on 15 August 1648 as the fourth son of Sir
Francis Godolphin, and younger brother of
Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, by Dorothy, second daughter of Sir Henry Berkeley of
Yarlington,
Somerset. He was admitted to Eton on 8 October 1665. He matriculated at
Wadham College, Oxford on 30 August 1664, and took his Bachelors of Arts in 1668. In the same year, he was elected a fellow of
All Souls' College, where he proceeded M.A. in 1672, and B.D. and D.D. on 11 July 1685. He was made a fellow of Eton College on 14 April 1677. By royal mandate, he was nominated Provost of the college on 16 October 1695, and was installed on 30 October. He was a benefactor to the college, contributing towards the expense of altering the chapel, and erecting at his own cost a copper statue of the founder,
Henry VI, in the school yard. He was nominated Sneating
Prebendary of St. Paul's on 13 November 1683, and held the prebend until his death. After the death of
William Sherlock he was elected
Dean of St. Paul's on 14 July 1707, and installed on 18 July. He resigned the deanery in October 1726, when he returned to the duties of the provost of Eton. During his tenure of office at St. Paul's he had been on the Rebuilding Commission, representing with John Younger and
William Stanley – the rising generation of the cathedral chapter. On matters of detail, there were constant disagreements from 1707 until 1711, when the commission was wound up with the imperious Sir Christopher Wren. Eventually Wren used the influence of the Queen to rid himself of the commission, and there were polemics published aimed at Wren - now in his early eighties; but on the accession of
George I in 1714 the commission was set up again. There were more arguments about the dome, with a balustrade or railing proposed, Godolphin arguing for the latter. Wren's career ended on an unsatisfactory note of bitterness and criticism. Godolphin died at
Windsor on 29 January
1732/33, and was buried in Eton College Chapel. One of the earliest extant boarding houses at Eton College, Godolphin House, is named after him. ==Family==