Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/141

 the first act of Bizot's 'Les Pêcheurs des Perles.' Godfrey mode a tour with his band in the United States in 1876 in celebration of the centenary of American Independence. It was the first visit of an English military band since the creation of the republic, and a special Act of Parliament had to be passed to authorise it. At Queen Victoria's jubilee (1887) he was promoted second-lieutenant — the first bandmaster who received a commission in the army. He was also decorated with the jubilee medal and clasp. In 1891 he reached the age limit of sixty, but his period of service was extended for five years. He retired from the army on 4 Sept. 1896, with the reputation of England's leading bandmaster. Subsequently he formed a private military band which played at the chief exhibitions in England and with which he twice toured America and Canada. He rendered splendid service to the cause of military music, and was very successful as an 'arranger' of compositions for military bands. He died at Beeston, Nottinghamshire, on 30 June 1903. Godfrey married in 1856 Joyce Boyles, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Dan Godfrey (b. 1868), a well-known conductor, is musical director to the corporation of Bournemouth. A cartoon of Godfrey by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' on 10 March 1888.

 GODKIN, EDWIN LAWRENCE (1831–1902), editor and author, born on 2 Oct. 1831 at his maternal grandmother's house at Moyne, co. Wicklow, was eldest child of James Godkin [q. v.], presbyterian clergyman and journalist with strong nationalist sympathies. His mother, Sarah Lawrence, was of Cromwelhan ancestry. Of delicate health, he spent his early childhood mainly in Wicklow, and when seven years old was sent to a preparatory school in Armagh, where his father was then living. For over four years, from 1841 to 1846, he was at Silcoates school for the children of congregational ministers, near Wakefield in Yorkshire. In 1846 he entered Queen's College, Belfast, Sir Robert Hart [q. v. Suppl. II] being a younger contemporary. He was first president of the Undergraduates' Literary and Scientific Society; at the time (he wrote later) 'John Stuart Mill was our prophet, but America was our Promised Land' (Life and Letters, i. p. 12). In 1851 he graduated B.A. and went to London to read for the bar at Lincoln's Inn, taking rooms in the Temple. He soon turned to authorship and journalism. Godkin undertook some literary work for Cassell's publishing house, with which his father was connected. In 1853 that firm published his first book, 'The History of Hungary and the Magyars from the Earliest Period to the Close of the Late War.' In October 1853 the 'Daily News' sent him out as special correspondent to Turkey on the eve of the Crimean war. He joined Omar Pasha's army, and was in the Crimea until the end of the war, returning home in September 1855. This experience gave him a lifelong hatred of war; he held that the most important result of the Crimean war was 'the creation and development of the special correspondents of newspapers' (Life and Letters, i. 100).

After writing for a short time for the 'Northern Whig' at Belfast, he went out in November 1856 to the United States, and almost immediately made a tour in the southern states, noting the effects of the slave system. He corresponded with the London 'Daily News,' and was admitted to the bar of the state of New York in Feb. 1858. In 1860 he made a tour in Europe for his health. While he was in Europe the American civil war broke out, and he strongly supported the North, writing to the 'Daily News' in condemnation of the British attitude with regard to the Trent incident. On returning to the United States in September 1862, while continuing his letters to the 'Daily News,' he wrote for the 'New York Times,' the 'North American Review,' and 'Atlantic Monthly.' He also took charge for a short time of the 'Sanitary Commission Bulletin.' In 1864 he wrote of himself 'I am by nature rather fitted for an outdoor than an indoor life. I have not got the literary temperament' (Life and Letters, i. 229). In July 1865 he established in New York a weekly journal 'The Nation,' to represent independent thought in the United States. The paper was started by subscription, but it did not pay in its early stages, and after the first year he took it over almost entirely as his private venture. He edited and wrote most of it till 1881, when he sold it to the 'Evening Post,' of which it became a kind of weekly edition. In 1883 he became editor in chief of both papers, retiring on account of ill-health in 1899. During most of this time his sub-editor was his friend, W. P. Garrison, son of William Lloyd Garrison.

The first prospectus of the 'Nation' stated