Barnabas Gooch

Last updated March 24, 2026

Barnabas Gooch or Goche or Gough (died c. 1626) was an English lawyer and academic who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1611 to 1612. He was also a politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1624.

Gooch was born at Alvingham, Lincolnshire, the son of Barnabe Googe, poet and scholar. He matriculated from Magdalene College, Cambridge in Autumn 1582 and was awarded BA in 1587, MA in 1590 and LLD in 1604. He became Master of Magdalene in 1604 and held the post until his death in 1626. In 1605 he was incorporated at Oxford University. He was Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1611 to 1612 He was admitted as an advocate on 4 February 1613. From 1615 to 1625 he was Commissary of the University.^[2]

When Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden refounded Buckingham College, Cambridge as Magdalene in 1542,^[3] he donated to the college seven acres of property at Aldgate in London. This property would have brought enormous income had it been retained by the college.^[4] However, under the conspiracy of the Elizabethan banker Benedict Spinola, the property was permanently alienated to the Crown in 1574.^[5] The transaction involved Spinola luring the master and fellows of the time to accept an increase in the annual rental from £9 to £15 a year in exchange for the property. The loss of the Aldgate property left the college in poverty. The transaction was contested multiple times without success.^[6] The first and most famous such lawsuit, the Earl of Oxford's case, was pursued in 1615 by Gooch. This court case landed Gooch and the senior fellow in prison for two years.^[7] Gooch was subsequently offered £10,000 as a compromise, which he refused to accept.^[6]

In 1621, Gooch was elected Member of Parliament for Cambridge University and for Truro and chose to sit for the university. He was re-elected MP for Cambridge University in 1624. He was Chancellor of Worcester and Exeter. He was a benefactor to Magdalene College.^[2]

Gooch died at Exeter in about 1626.^[2]

References

↑ Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.408
1 2 3 "Gooch, Barnabas (GC582B)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ "The colleges and halls: Magdalene." A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City and University of Cambridge. Ed. J P C Roach. London: Victoria County History, 1959. 450-456. British History Online. Web. 29 April 2020. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol3/pp450-456.
↑ "College History, Tudor Times". Magdalene College website. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
↑ "Oxford's and Worcester's Men And the "Boar's Head"". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
1 2 "High Finance and Low Cunning". Magdalene College. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
↑ Case of the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College - The Oxford Authorship Site. Retrieved 29 March 2010.

Academic offices

Preceded by

John Palmer

Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge
1604–1626

Succeeded by

Henry Smyth

Preceded by

Fogge Newton

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
1611–1612

Succeeded by

Valentine Cary

Parliament of England

Preceded by

Sir Miles Sandys
Sir Francis Bacon

Member of Parliament for Cambridge University
1621–1624
With: (Sir) Robert Naunton

Succeeded by

Sir Robert Naunton
Sir Albert Morton

Preceded by

Thomas Russell
Thomas Burgess, junior

Member of Parliament for Truro
1621
With: John Trefusis

Succeeded by

Sir John Catcher
John Trefusis

Masters of Magdalene College, Cambridge

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