{{Short description|British aristocrat and civil servant (1847–1932)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Kilbracken | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|GCB}} | image = Arthur Godley in later life.jpg | caption = Lord Kilbracken in later life | office = Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister | term_start = 1880 | term_end =1882 | prime_minister = William Ewart Gladstone | predecessor = Montagu Corry | successor = Edward Walter Hamilton | birth_name = John Arthur Godley | birth_date = {{birth date|1847|06|17|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1932|06|27|1847|06|17|df=y}} | resting_place = | education = Radley College <br /> Rugby School | alma_mater = Balliol College, Oxford | spouse = {{marriage|Sarah (Sarina) James|1871}} | children = 5 | relatives = Hugh Godley <br /> John Robert Godley <br /> Charlotte Godley <br /> A. D. Godley <br /> Alexander Godley | awards = GCB (1908) }}

'''John Arthur Godley, 1st Baron Kilbracken''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|GCB}} (17 June 1847 – 27 June 1932), was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and British civil servant and the longest serving, and probably the most influential, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India.{{sfn|Hesilrige|1921|page=515}}

== Early life == [[File:Arthur Godley painting, 1851.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Godley painting by Mary Townsend (July 1851)]] Arthur Godley was the only son of John Robert Godley, a colonial reformer, and Charlotte Godley, a letter-writer and community leader. From April 1850 to December 1852, he was with his parents in New Zealand; his father has become to be regarded as the founder of Canterbury.<ref name="DNZB Charlotte Godley">{{DNZB|last=Hughes|first=Beryl|id=1g11|title=Charlotte Godley|accessdate=23 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="DNZB Godley">{{DNZB|Hensley|Gerald |1g12|Godley, John Robert|13 February 2022}}</ref> Godley Jr. was painted by Mary Townsend in 1851; the original is held by Canterbury Museum.<ref>{{cite web |title=Painting: John Arthur Godley |url=https://collection.canterburymuseum.com/objects/52593/painting-john-arthur-godley |publisher=Canterbury Museum, Christchurch |access-date=12 February 2022}}</ref> He studied at Radley, Rugby, and Balliol College, Oxford (where he won the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse).

== Career == His first important role was acting as Assistant Private Secretary to William Ewart Gladstone, then Prime Minister, during the years 1872 to 1874 and called to Lincoln's Inn bar in 1876.{{sfn|Hesilrige|1921|page=515}} He was elected a fellow of Hertford College, Oxford for the period 1874 to 1881. In 1880 Godley was appointed Commissioner for Inland Revenue, a position he held till 1882. Appointed Under-Secretary of State at the India Office in 1883, he remained there for 26 years, retiring in 1909. He was a member of the 'Royal Commission on Indian Finance and Currency' in 1913.{{sfn|Hesilrige|1921|page=515}}

He was bestowed a GCB in the 1908 Birthday honours list,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Page 4642 {{!}} Supplement 28151, 23 June 1908 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28151/supplement/4642|access-date=2022-02-12|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> and on 8 December 1909 he was raised to the peerage as The Baron Kilbracken, of Killegar in the County of Leitrim.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28317 |date=14 December 1909 |page=9514}}</ref>

His autobiography, ''Reminiscences of Lord Kilbracken'', was published in 1931, the year before he died.{{sfn|Kilbracken|1931}}

== Personal life == Lord Kilbracken was a first cousin of the classical scholar A. D. Godley.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Part 1: A. D. Godley, Doyen of Magdalen College, Oxford|url=https://www.anglocelt.ie/2021/04/05/part-1-a-d-godley-doyen-of-magdalen-college-oxford/|access-date=2022-02-12|website=Anglo Celt|language=en-US}}</ref> He was married to Sarah (Sarina) James daughter of 1st Baron Northbourne on 26 September 1871 until her death on 13 September 1921. The union bore 2 sons and three daughters.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Person Page|url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p24386.htm#i243852|access-date=2022-02-12|website=www.thepeerage.com}}</ref> The barony was inherited by his eldest and only surviving son, Hugh.{{sfn|Hesilrige|1921|page=515}}

==References== {{Commons category|Arthur Godley, 1st Baron Kilbracken}} {{Reflist}}

===Book cited=== *{{cite book | last=Hesilrige | first=Arthur G. M. | year=1921 | title=Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy | url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeeraget00unse/page/515 | location=160A, Fleet street, London, UK | publisher=Dean & Son | page=515 }} *{{cite book | last=Kilbracken| first=Arthur Godley | year=1931 | title=Reminiscences of Lord Kilbracken| location=London, UK | publisher=Macmillan Publishers | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.209567/mode/2up }}

{{S-start}} {{S-gov}} {{s-bef|before=Montagu Corry}} {{s-ttl|title=Principal Private Secretary <br /> to the Prime Minister|years=1880–1882}} {{s-aft|after=Edward Walter Hamilton}}

{{Succession box | title = Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India | years = 1883&ndash;1909 | before = Louis Mallet | after = Richmond Ritchie}}

{{S-reg|uk}} {{s-new |creation}} {{S-ttl | title=Baron Kilbracken | years=1909–1932 }} {{s-aft | after=Hugh John Godley }} {{S-end}}

{{Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilbracken, Arthur Godley, 1st Baron}} Category:1847 births Category:1932 deaths 1 Arthur Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford Category:People educated at Radley College Category:People educated at Rugby School Godley, Arthur Godley, Arthur Godley, Arthur Category:Peers created by Edward VII