Sir Henry Goring, 4th Baronet

Sir Henry Goring, 4th Baronet (baptized 16 September 1679 – 12 November 1731), of Highden, Washington, Sussex, one of the Goring baronets of Highden, was an English politician who had a part in the Jacobite Atterbury Plot of 1721.

Family and background

Goring was born in 1679, fourth son of Captain Henry Goring (died 1685) of Wappingthorne, (in Steyning) Sussex, and his second wife Mary, daughter of Sir John Covert, 1st Baronet, of Slaugham, Sussex. He married in 1714 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Matthew, of Twickenham, Middlesex, and by her had nine sons and two daughters. He succeeded his half-brother Charles to the baronetcy and to Wappingthorn estate in Steyning, Sussex in 1714.

Military and political career

Goring was commissioned Captain in Colonel Edmund Soames's regiment of foot in 1705, before transferring in 1707 to a regiment of horse commanded by Samuel Masham, who was a favourite of the then monarch, Queen Anne. In 1711 he became Colonel of the 31st Regiment of Foot before going on half-pay in 1713. As a Jacobite, he was one of a number of British army officers forced to sell their commissions during the time of the Jacobite Rising of 1715.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of Great Britain for Steyning 1 February 1709 – 1715, and for Horsham 4 April 1707 – 1708 and 26 January – 16 June 1715, but was unseated by petition of his opponent. Sunderland's papers were seized, and a letter of thanks addressed to him by the Pretender came to light. The latter was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Goring, meanwhile, avoided arrest and fled the country on 23 August; he remained in France until his death in 1731. In his absence, at a trial where he was considered one of the major managers of the plot, his agent stated Goring had attempted to enlist a gang of one thousand brandy smugglers to assist the projected invasion. This led to some government action against such smuggling.

He was created Viscount Goring and Baron Bullinghel in the Jacobite Peerage after going into exile in France in 1722. He died in 1731, still in exile, at age 52.