Sir William Goulding, 1st Baronet facts for kids
Sir William Joshua Goulding (born March 7, 1856 – died July 12, 1925) was a very successful businessman from Ireland with English roots. He was also a politician who believed Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom, and he was a talented rugby player. He was part of a government group called the Senate of Southern Ireland, which didn't last very long.
Early Life and Education
William Joshua Goulding was born in Cork, Ireland. His father, also named William Goulding, was a politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Cork City. William Joshua went to school in Cork and then studied at St John's College, Cambridge, a famous university in England, where he earned his master's degree in 1883.
When he was younger, in 1875, his father arranged for him to go on a special educational trip called a Grand Tour. He traveled to Italy and Greece with a tutor named John Pentland Mahaffy. For part of this trip, they even traveled with the famous writer Oscar Wilde. William Joshua also had a younger brother, Edward, who later became a noble, known as Baron Wargrave.
In 1881, William Joshua Goulding married Ada Stokes. They lived in Ireland and owned properties in Dublin and County Kildare.
A Leader in Business
After finishing university, Goulding returned to Ireland and joined his family's business, W. & H. M. Goulding. This company made fertilizers and other products for farming. When his father passed away in 1884, William Joshua took over as the chairman, or head, of the company. In 1885, he moved the company's main office from Cork to Dublin.
He helped the company grow by buying other fertilizer businesses in Ireland. By 1902, his company was producing a huge amount of fertilizer each year – over 119,000 tons!
Goulding also became a leader in the railway industry. In 1907, he became the chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway, a major train company. He also led the Irish railway committee for several years. Later, when the Irish government combined many southern Irish railway companies, Goulding was chosen to lead the new, bigger railway board. He was also a director at the Irish National Bank Ltd. and was involved with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, a group that supports businesses in Dublin.
Involved in Politics
Like his father, William Joshua Goulding was a strong supporter of Irish unionism, meaning he believed Ireland should stay part of the United Kingdom. Even though he was asked twice, he never ran for a seat in Parliament. He was a member of the Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA) and led unionist groups in Dublin.
On August 22, 1904, he was given the special title of baronet, which is an inherited title of honor. He also served as the top legal officer, or Sheriff, for County Dublin in 1906 and for County Kildare in 1907.
During a time of change in Ireland, he was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1917, a group of advisors to the government. He was then asked by the British government to join the Irish Convention from 1917 to 1918, which discussed Ireland's future.
When the Irish Unionist Alliance split in 1919, Goulding joined a new group called the Unionist Anti-Partition League. In March 1921, he led a group of southern unionists to ask Catholic bishops to help bring Sinn Féin (an Irish political party) and the British government together for talks. That same month, he also started the Irish Businessmen's Conciliation Committee with another businessman, Andrew Jameson. Their goal was to get businesses to oppose the partition of Ireland, which was the idea of dividing Ireland into two parts.
In 1921, Goulding was chosen to be one of the first members of the Senate of Southern Ireland. He took an oath to serve but did not attend the Senate's two meetings. In May 1922, he joined a group from the Church of Ireland (the main Protestant church in Ireland) to meet with Irish leaders W. T. Cosgrave and Michael Collins. They wanted to make sure that the rights of Irish Protestants would be protected in the new Irish Free State.
Rugby Star and Leader
William Joshua Goulding was also a talented rugby player. He played for the Irish national team in 1879, earning an "international cap" in a game against Scotland.
He was very involved with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), the organization that runs rugby in Ireland. He served as its fourth president from 1880 to 1881. He also held other important roles for the IRFU, including vice-president, honorary secretary, and honorary treasurer.
