Sir Arthur Gorges

Sir Arthur Gorges Biography

Sir Arthur Gorges (circa 1567 - 10 Oct 1625), was a poet and translator, and courtier. He was born the son of Sir William Gorges of Charlton (Charlton in the parish of Wraxall, Somerset), and his wife Winifred Budockshede, heiress to the manor of Budockshede. Sir William Gorges died in Dec 1584, in the Tower of London - he was knighted in Ireland in 1579, Vice Admiral of the Fleet in 1580, and Constable of the Tower of London. Arthur Gorges' brother Tristram Gorges (circa 1562 - 8 May 1608, St. Budeaux, Devonshire, England) was entrusted by Sir Francis Drake with the custody of Don Pedro de Valdez who was captured in the fight with the Spanish Armada. He took Don Pedro to the Tower of London. The Gorges family in the Elizabethan era include Sir Ferdinando Gorges, founder of the Province of Maine, and Arthur Gorges' uncle, Sir Thomas Gorges of Longford Castle, married to Helena, Marchioness of Northampton. His works include "Lucans Pharsalia" (with a preface in poetry by Walter Raleigh), and a translation into English of Francis Bacon's The Wisedome of the Ancientss:The Wisdom of the Ancients from the original Latin. He is included in the Oxford Book of Sonnets (2000) published by the Oxford University Press, along with Walter Ralegh, Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, and other poets of the time.)

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