The Rumoured Deaths of George Goring, the Elder and the Younger: Two Notes

A number of manuscript copies survive as well, most with a more detailed title, as in Bodleian. MS Rawl. poet. 160: 'Upon the death of Sir G. Goring and the earl of Kensington falsely rumored'. In her First-line index of English poetry, 1500-1800, in manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, Margaret Crum surmised that the rumoured death was of the younger George Goring (1608-57), whose injuries at the siege of Breda in 1637 were magnified into death in the news that reached England. This dating and identification are also reflected in the listings of all the manuscript copies of the poem included in the Folger Union First Line Index of English Verse. Michael Denbo has recently argued that the date of 1637 provided by Crum is in error and that the poem refers to the elder George Goring (later earl of Norwich, 1585-1663) who was a friend of the Lord Kensington (Henry Rich, later earl of Holland) mentioned in the title. He notes that the two were travelling together in April 1623, but that 'there is no information to suggest that Goring and Kensington fell into trouble during their trip to Spain, but it is certainly possible. Evidence confirming Denbo's argument has now been found.