Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Goulburn, Edward
GOULBURN, EDWARD (1787–1868), serjeant-at-law, born in 1787, was the second son of Munbee Goulburn of Amity Hall, co. Vere, Jamaica, and Portland Place, London, by his wife, Susannah Chetwynd, eldest daughter of William, fourth viscount Chetwynd (Burke, Landed Gentry, 7th edit., i. 760). He became a cornet in the royal regiment of horse guards on 9 July 1803, and a lieutenant on 15 Dec. 1804. In 1805 he published ‘The Blueviad, a satyrical Poem,’ in which he reflected on some of his brother officers. Upon being prosecuted for libel, Goulburn withdrew from the army, and subsequently entered himself at the Middle Temple. He was called to the bar in 1815, and chose the midland circuit. His professional promotion was largely due to the great influence of his elder brother Henry [q. v.] He was appointed successively a Welsh judge, and recorder of the boroughs of Leicester, Lincoln, and Boston. In 1829 he was made a serjeant-at-law, and afterwards gained a patent of precedence. He unsuccessfully contested the representation in parliament of Ipswich in 1832, and represented Leicester in the tory interest in the parliament of 1835–7, but was defeated at the general election of 1837. On 21 Oct. 1842 he was nominated a commissioner of the court of bankruptcy, London (Gent. Mag. new ser., xviii. 532), and discharged the duties of the office until very shortly before his death. He was created an honorary D.C.L. at Oxford on 4 June 1845 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, ii. 544). He died at 62 Upper Seymour Street, Portman Square, on 24 Aug. 1868. He married, first, in 1815, Harriette, third daughter of Philip Nathaniel de Visme of Notting Hill House, Kensington; secondly, in 1825, his cousin, Esther Chetwynd, second daughter of Richard, fifth viscount Chetwynd; and, thirdly, in 1831, Katherine Montagu, second daughter of Matthew, fourth lord Rokeby, whom he survived. His eldest son by his first marriage was Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., head-master of Rugby School and dean of Norwich. Goulburn wrote besides the ‘Blueviad’: 1. ‘The Pursuits of Fashion, a satirical Poem’ (anon.), 8vo, London, 1809; 3rd edit., 1810; 4th edit., with considerable alterations and additions, 1812. 2. ‘Edward de Montfort,’ a novel, 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1812.
[Army Lists; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, p. 133; Law Times, xlv. 325, 335, 419.]