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Thomas Godfrey (MP for Winchelsea and New Romney)

(1586-1664) of Halling, Kent; formerly of Winchelsea, Suss.; later of Hoddiford, Sellinge, Kent

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ52636453 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Godfrey (3 January 1586 – 1664), of Halling, Kent; formerly of Winchelsea, Sussex; later of Hoddiford, Sellinge, Kent, was an English Member of Parliament.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Winchelsea in 1614 and for New Romney in 1628 and April 1640.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Thomas Godfrey (MP for Winchelsea and New Romney)” is (1586-1664) of Halling, Kent; formerly of Winchelsea, Suss.; later of Hoddiford, Sellinge, Kent. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Thomas, Godfrey and Winchelsea, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1586, 1664, 1614, 1628—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1586-01-01. For this dossier, Thomas, Godfrey and Winchelsea is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “(1586-1664) of Halling, Kent; formerly of Winchelsea, Suss.; later of Hoddiford, Sellinge, Kent” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q52636453. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1586, 1664, 1614 and 1628.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas Godfrey (MP for Winchelsea and New Romney)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas Godfrey (MP for Winchelsea and New Romney) primary sources, Thomas Godfrey (MP for Winchelsea and New Romney) archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas Godfrey (MP for Winchelsea and New Romney)”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Godfrey (MP for Winchelsea and New Romney)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.