The English statesman Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin (1645-1712), was head of the Treasury during the first great 18th-century war against France and successfully financed the most costly military and naval operations undertaken by England to that time.

Younger son of an old Cornish family, Sidney Godolphin was born about June 15, 1645. While a young man he served in the royal household, on two diplomatic missions, and as a member of Parliament before finding his real vocation at the Treasury. He was given a peerage by Charles II in 1684, and Charles relied on him during the last years of his reign. "Sidney is never in the way," he said, "and never out of the way."

During the reign of James II, which followed that of Charles, Godolphin was overshadowed by that king's Catholic advisers. He was, however, one of the last to desert James II, who was deposed...