Editing William Godwin

{{Short description|English philosopher and novelist (1756–1836)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| name = William Godwin
| image = William Godwin by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Portrait by [[Henry William Pickersgill]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1756|3|3}}
| birth_place = [[Wisbech]], Cambridgeshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1836|4|7|1756|3|3}}
| death_place = [[Westminster]], Middlesex, England
| education = [[Hoxton Academy]]
| signature = William Godwin signature.svg
| region = {{flatlist|*[[Western philosophy]]
** [[British philosophy]]}}
| era = {{flatlist|*[[Modern philosophy]]
** [[Age of Enlightenment]]
** [[19th-century philosophy]]}}
| notable_works = {{flatlist|
* ''[[Enquiry Concerning Political Justice]]''
* ''[[Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams|Things as They Are]]''
}}
| school_tradition = {{plainlist|
* [[Philosophical anarchism]]
* [[Classical radicalism|Radicalism]]
* [[Utilitarianism]]
}}
| main_interests = {{flatlist|
* [[Social philosophy|Society]]
* [[Political philosophy|Politics]]
* Ethics
}}
| notable_ideas = {{plainlist|
* [[Anarchism]]
* [[Poet as legislator]]
}}
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Mary Wollstonecraft]]|29 March 1797|10 September 1797|reason=died}}
* {{marriage|[[Mary Jane Godwin|Mary Jane Clairmont]]|1801}}
}}
}}
{{Libertarianism sidebar}}
{{anarchism sidebar}}
'''William Godwin''' (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, [[political philosophy|political philosopher]] and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of [[utilitarianism]] and the first modern proponent of [[anarchism]].<ref>{{cite SEP |url-id=godwin |title=William Godwin |last=Philp  |first=Mark|date=20 May 2006}}</ref> Godwin is most famous for two books that he published within the space of a year: ''[[Enquiry Concerning Political Justice|An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice]]'', an attack on [[political institution]]s, and ''[[Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams]]'', an early mystery novel which attacks [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] privilege. Based on the success of both, Godwin featured prominently in the radical circles of London in the 1790s. He wrote prolifically in the genres of novels, history and [[demography]] throughout his life.

In the conservative reaction to [[Radicalism (historical)|British radicalism]], Godwin was attacked, in part because of his marriage to the feminist writer [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] in 1797 and [[Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman|his candid biography of her]] after her death from childbirth. Their daughter, later known as [[Mary Shelley]], would go on to write ''[[Frankenstein]]'' and marry the poet [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]]. With his second wife, [[Mary Jane Godwin|Mary Jane Clairmont]], Godwin set up The Juvenile Library, allowing the family to write their own works for children (sometimes using ''noms de plume'') and translate and publish many other books, some of enduring significance. Godwin has had considerable influence on British literature and literary culture.

== Early life and education ==
Godwin was born in [[Wisbech]], [[Isle of Ely]], [[Cambridgeshire]], to John and Anne Godwin, becoming the seventh of his parents' thirteen children.{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=2008|1p=192|2a1=Philp|2y=1993|2p=7}} Godwin's family on both sides were middle-class and his parents adhered to a strict form of [[Calvinism]]. Godwin's mother came from a wealthy family but due to her uncle's frivolities the family wealth was squandered. Fortunately for the family, her father was a successful merchant involved in the [[Baltic maritime trade (c. 1400–1800)|Baltic Sea trade]].{{Sfn|Philp|1993|p=7}} Shortly following William's birth, his father John, a [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]], moved the family to Debenham in Suffolk and later to  [[Guestwick]] in Norfolk, which had a radical history as a [[Roundhead]] stronghold during the [[English Civil War]].<ref>{{cite book |title= Free-thinkers & Trouble-makers|author= Harry Jones|publisher= Wisbech Society|year= 2004|page= 13}}</ref> At the local [[meeting house]], John Godwin often found himself sitting in "[[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]]'s Chair", which had been a gift to the town by the [[Lord Protector]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=192}}

William Godwin came from a long line of [[English Dissenters]], who faced [[religious discrimination]] by the British government, and was inspired by his grandfather and father to take up the dissenting tradition and become a minister himself.{{Sfnm|1a1=Brailsford|1y=2009|1p=79|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=192}} At eleven years old, he became the sole pupil of [[Samuel Newton (clergyman)|Samuel Newton]], a [[Hyper-Calvinism|hard-line Calvinist]] and a [[Glasite|disciple]] of [[Robert Sandeman (theologian)|Robert Sandeman]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=2008|1p=192|2a1=Robinson|2y=1980|2p=171|3a1=Thomas|3y=2019|3p=6}} Although Newton's strict method of [[School discipline|discipline]] left Godwin with a lasting [[anti-authoritarianism]], Godwin internalized the Sandemanian [[creed]], which emphasised [[rationalism]], [[egalitarianism]] and [[consensus decision-making]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=192–193}} Despite Godwin's later renunciation of Christianity, he maintained his Sandemanian roots, which he held responsible for his commitment to rationalism, as well as his [[stoicism|stoic personality]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=193}} Godwin later characterised Newton as, "... a celebrated north country apostle, who, after Calvin damned ninety-nine in a hundred of mankind, has contrived a scheme for damning ninety-nine in a hundred of the followers of Calvin."{{Sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1y=1980|1p=171|2a1=Thomas|2y=2019|2p=6}} In 1771, Godwin was finally dismissed by Newton and returned home, but his father died the following year, which prompted his mother to urge him to continue his education.{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|pp=6–7}}

At seventeen years old, Godwin began [[higher education]] at the [[Dissenting academies|Dissenting Academy]] in [[Hoxton]],{{Sfnm|1a1=Brailsford|1y=2009|1p=79|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=193|3a1=Robinson|3y=1980|3p=171|4a1=Thomas|4y=2019|4p=7}} where he studied under [[Andrew Kippis]], the biographer, and [[Abraham Rees]], who was responsible for the ''[[Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences]]''.{{Sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1y=1980|1p=171|2a1=Thomas|2y=2019|2p=7}} A hotspot for [[classical liberalism]], at the Academy, Godwin familiarized himself with [[John Locke]]'s [[associationism|approach to psychology]], [[Isaac Newton]]'s [[Newtonianism|scientific method]] and [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]]'s [[Moral sense theory|ethical system]], which all informed Godwin's philosophies of [[determinism]] and [[Subjective idealism|immaterialism]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=193}} Although Godwin had joined the Academy as a committed [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]],{{Sfnm|1a1=Brailsford|1y=2009|1p=79|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=193}} the outbreak of the [[American Revolution]] led him to support the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig opposition]] and, after reading the works of [[Jonathan Swift]], he became a staunch [[British republicanism|republican]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=193}} He soon familiarised himself with the French ''[[philosophes]]'', learning of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]'s belief in the inherent goodness of [[human nature]] and opposition to [[private property]], as well as [[Claude Adrien Helvétius]]'s [[utilitarianism]] and [[Baron d'Holbach|Paul-Henri Thiry]]'s [[materialism]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=193–194}}

In 1778, Godwin graduated from the academy and was quickly appointed as a minister in [[Ware, Hertfordshire|Ware]], where he met [[Joseph Fawcett]], one of his main direct influences. By 1780, he had been reassigned to [[Stowmarket]], where he first read [[Baron d'Holbach|Paul-Henri Thiry]]'s ''[[The System of Nature|System of Nature]]'', adopting his philosophies of [[determinism]] and [[materialism]].{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=8}} But after a conflict with other dissenting ministers of [[Suffolk]] over the administration of the [[eucharist]], he stepped down and left for [[London]] in April 1782,{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|pp=8–9}} resigning his career as a minister to become a [[writer]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=193–194}}

== Early writing ==
Throughout 1783, Godwin published a series of written works, beginning with an anonymously-published biography of [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the Elder]],{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=2008|1p=194|2a1=Thomas|2y=2019|2p=9}} followed by a couple of pro-Whig political pamphlets.{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=194}} He also briefly attempted to return to ministerial work in [[Beaconsfield]], where he preached that "[[faith]] should be subordinated to [[reason]]".{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=9}} A few months later, during the opening of a [[seminary]] in [[Epsom]], Godwin gave a politically-charged speech in which he denounced [[state (polity)|state power]] as "artificial" and exalted the [[anarchism and education|libertarian potential of education]], which he believed could bring an end to [[authoritarianism|authoritarian governments]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=194}} Godwin then worked for a spell as a satirical literary critic, publishing ''The Herald of Literature'', in which he reviewed non-existent works by real authors, imitating their writing styles in lengthy quotations.{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|pp=9–10}}

His work on the ''Herald'' secured him further work as a critic for [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]'s ''[[English Review (18th century)|English Review]]'' and a commission to translate [[Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat|Simon Fraser]]'s memoirs. In 1784, he published the romantic novels ''Damon and Delia'' and ''Imogen'', the latter of which was [[Frame story|framed]] as a translation of a found manuscript from [[Wales in the Early Middle Ages|ancient Wales]].{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=10}} That same year, he also published ''Sketches of History'', which compiled six of his sermons about the characters of [[Aaron]], [[Hazael]] and [[Jesus]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1984|page=240}} Drawing from [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', which depicted [[Satan]] as a rebel against [[God in Christianity|his creator]],{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=194}} Godwin denounced the Christian God as a [[theocracy|theocrat]] and a [[tyrant]] that had no right to rule.{{Sfnm|1a1=Brailsford|1y=2009|1p=80|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=194}}

As his early works were financially unsuccessful, in 1784, William Godwin hoped John Collins, a wealthy owner of a sugar plantation in St. Vincent would fund his writing. He did not succeed but the close connection between Godwin and members of the Collins family continued for fifty years.<ref>Marion Kingston Stocking, ed. ''The Clairmont Correspondence: Letters of Claire Clairmont, Charles Clairmont, and Fanny Imlay Godwin'', 1808-1834 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), vol. 1, p. 6, note 1.</ref> John Collin's eldest daughter [[Harriet de Boinville]] and William met seventy-two times between 1809 and 1827, and she championed Godwin's ''An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness'' (1793) at her salons during that time period.<ref>Thomas Jefferson Hogg, ''The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley,'' in Humbert Wolfe, ed., ''The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley'' (London: Dent, 1933), vol. II, p. 107.</ref>

In further attempts to earn money, Godwin started writing for well-paying Whig journals on [[Grub Street]], starting work as a [[Political journalism|political journalist]] for the ''[[New Annual Register]]'' after being introduced to [[George Robinson (bookseller)|Georgie Robinson]] by [[Andrew Kippis]].{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|pp=10–11}} Godwin's work was then picked up by the ''Political Herald'', where he wrote under the [[pseudonym]] of "[[Gaius Mucius Scaevola|Mucius]]" in order to attack the [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]].{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=11}} He subsequently reported on the [[First Pitt ministry|Pitt ministry]]'s colonial rule in [[British rule in Ireland|Ireland]] and [[Company rule in India|India]]; penned a history of the [[Dutch Revolt]] and predicted the outbreak of a [[Atlantic Revolutions|revolutionary wave]] in Europe.{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=194–195}}

After the death of the ''Political Herald's'' editor, Godwin turned down [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]]'s offer of succeeding to the editorship, out of concern that his [[editorial independence]] would be compromised by a direct financial connection to the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig Party]].{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=11}} But it was through Sheridan that Godwin became acquainted with a life-long friend [[Thomas Holcroft]],{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|pp=11–12}} whose arguments convinced Godwin to finally reject [[Christianity]] and embrace [[atheism]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Brailsford|1y=2009|1pp=86–87|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=194|3a1=Thomas|3y=2019|3pp=11–12}} At the same time, Godwin took up a [[side job]] as a [[Tutoring|tutor]] for the young [[Thomas Abthorpe Cooper]]. After a fractious relationship between the two, Godwin eventually became the orphaned boy's [[Adoption#Parenting|adoptive father]], which altered his style of pedagogy to one that emphasised "an open and honest relationship between tutor and pupil."{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=12}}

With the outbreak of the [[French Revolution]], Godwin was among the [[Radicals (UK)|Radicals]] that enthusiastically welcomed the events as the spiritual successor to Britain's own [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688.{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=13}} As a member of the [[Revolution Society]],{{Sfnm|1a1=Brailsford|1y=2009|1pp=87|2a1=Thomas|2y=2019|2pp=13–14}} Godwin met the political activist [[Richard Price]], whose ''[[A Discourse on the Love of Our Country|Discourse on the Love of Our Country]]'' espoused a radical form of [[patriotism]] that controversially upheld [[freedom of religion]], [[representative democracy]] and the [[right of revolution]].{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|pp=13–14}} Price's ''Discourse'' ignited a [[pamphlet war]], beginning with [[Edmund Burke]]'s publication of his ''[[Reflections on the Revolution in France]]'', which defended [[traditionalist conservatism]] and opposed revolution.{{Sfnm|1a1=Butler|1y=1984|1p=1|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=195|3a1=Thomas|3y=2019|3p=14}} In response to Burke, [[Thomas Paine]] published his ''[[Rights of Man]]'' with the help of Godwin,{{Sfnm|1a1=Butler|1y=1984|1pp=107–108|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=195|3a1=Thomas|3y=2019|3p=14–15}} who declared that "the seeds of revolution it contains are so vigorous in their stamina, that nothing can overpower them."{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|p=15}}

But Godwin's voice remained largely absent from the [[Revolution Controversy]], as he had started writing a work of [[political philosophy]] that developed on his [[radicalism (historical)|radical principles]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=195}} With George Robinson's financial support,{{Sfnm|1a1=Brailsford|1y=2009|1pp=89–90|2a1=Thomas|2y=2019|2pp=15–16}} Godwin quit his work at the ''New Annual Register'' and committed himself wholly to his ''[[magnum opus]]'',{{Sfn|Thomas|2019|pp=15-16}} which he hoped would condense the "best and most liberal in the [[political science|science of politics]] into a coherent system".{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=2008|1p=195|2a1=Thomas|2y=2019|2pp=15–16}} After sixteen months' work, while the revolution in France had culminated with the [[execution of Louis XVI]] and the outbreak of [[French Revolutionary Wars|war]], Godwin published his ''[[Enquiry Concerning Political Justice]]'' in February 1793.{{Sfnm|1a1=Butler|1y=1984|1p=149|2a1=Thomas|2y=2019|2p=16}}

==Marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft==
[[File:WilliamGodwin.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Half-length profile portrait of a man. His dark clothing blends into the background and his white face is in stark contrast.|[[James Northcote (painter)|James Northcote]], ''William Godwin,'' oil on canvas, 1802, the [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]]]]
Godwin first met [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] at the home of their mutual publisher. [[Joseph Johnson (publisher)|Joseph Johnson]] was hosting a dinner for another of his authors, [[Thomas Paine]], and Godwin remarked years later that on that evening he heard too little of Paine and too much of Wollstonecraft; he did not see her again for some years. In the interim, Wollstonecraft went to live in France to witness the Revolution for herself, and had a child, [[Fanny Imlay]], with an American adventurer named Gilbert Imlay. In pursuit of [[Gilbert Imlay]]'s business affairs, Wollstonecraft travelled to Scandinavia, and soon afterwards published [[Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark|a book based on the voyage]]. Godwin read it, and later wrote that "If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book."<ref>{{cite book|title=Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman|page=95}}</ref>

When Godwin and Wollstonecraft were reintroduced in 1796, their respect for each other soon grew into friendship, sexual attraction, and love.{{Sfnm|1a1=St. Clair|1y=1989|1pp=164–169|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=196|3a1=Sunstein|3y=1975|3pp=314–320|4a1=Thomas|4y=2019|4pp=55–58|5a1=Tomalin|5y=1992a|5pp=245–270|6a1=Wardle|6y=1951|6pp=268ff}} Once Wollstonecraft became pregnant, they decided to marry so that their child would be considered legitimate by society. Their marriage revealed the fact that Wollstonecraft had never been married to Imlay, and as a result she and Godwin lost many friends. Godwin received further criticism because he had advocated the abolition of marriage in ''Political Justice''.{{Sfnm|1a1=St. Clair|1y=1989|1pp=172–174|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2pp=196–197|3a1=Sunstein|3y=1975|3pp=330–335|4a1=Tomalin|4y=1992a|4pp=271–273}} After their marriage at [[St Pancras Old Church|St. Pancras]] on 29 March 1797, they moved into two adjoining houses in [[Somers Town, London|Somers Town]] so that they could both still retain their independence; they often communicated by notes delivered by servants.<ref>Sunstein has printed several of these letters in order so that the reader can follow Wollstonecraft and Godwin's conversation (321ff.)</ref>

[[Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin]] was born in Somers Town on 30 August 1797, the couple's only child.<ref name=TheLifeandLettersofMWS>Marshall, Julian. The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. London: R. Bentley and Son, 1889. PDF.</ref> {{rp|5}} Godwin had hoped for a son and had been planning on naming the child "William".<ref name="Godwin 2011">Godwin, William The Letters of William Godwin. Ed. Pamela Clemit. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. PDF.</ref> On 10 September 1797 Wollstonecraft died of complications following the birth. By all accounts, it had been a happy and stable, though brief, relationship.{{Sfnm|1a1=St. Clair|1y=1989|1p=173|2a1=Sunstein|2y=1975|2pp=335–340|3a1=Wardle|3y=1951|3pp=286–292}} Now Godwin, who had been a bachelor until a few months before, was distraught at the loss of the love of his life. Simultaneously, he became responsible for the care of these two young girls, the new-born Mary and toddler Fanny.

When Mary was three years old, Godwin left his daughters in the care of James Marshall while he travelled to Ireland. Godwin's tone in his letters demonstrates how much he cared about them. His letters show the stress he placed on giving his two daughters a sense of security. "And now what shall I say for my poor little girls? I hope they have not forgot me. I think of them every day, and should be glad, if the wind was more favourable, to blow them a kiss a-piece from Dublin to the Polygon.. but I have seen none that I love so well or think half so good as my own."<ref name="Godwin 2011"/>

In December 1800 his play ''[[Antonio (play)|Antonio, or the Soldier's Return]]'' was put on at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]] without success.<ref>{{cite book|title= The History of Wisbech and the Fens|author= Walker & Craddock|year= 1849|publisher= Richard Walker|page= 480}}</ref>

==Second marriage and book publishing==
In 1801, Godwin married his neighbour [[Mary Jane Clairmont]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www4.wlv.ac.uk/btw/authors/1055|title=Mary Jane Godwin (Author, Translator) – British Travel Writing|first=Ben|last=Colbert|website=University of Wolverhampton|access-date=16 July 2018|archive-date=16 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716053902/http://www4.wlv.ac.uk/btw/authors/1055|url-status=live}}</ref> She brought two of her own children into the household, Charles and [[Claire Clairmont|Claire]]. Journalist [[H.N. Brailsford]] wrote in 1913, "She was a vulgar and worldly woman, thoroughly feminine, and rather inclined to boast of her total ignorance of philosophy."{{Sfn|Brailsford|2009|p=169}} While Fanny eventually learned to live with Clairmont, Mary's relationship with her stepmother was tense. Mary writes, "As to Mrs Godwin, something very analogous to disgust arises whenever I mention her",<ref name= TheLifeandLettersofMWS />{{rp|200}} "A woman I shudder to think of".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Monstrous stepmother: Mary Shelley and Mary Jane Godwin|first=Harriet|last=Jump|date=1 October 1999|journal=Women's Writing|volume=6|issue=3|quote="A woman I shudder to think of" (1814)|pages=297–308|doi=10.1080/09699089900200094|pmid=22624188}}</ref>

In 1805, the Godwins set up a shop and publishing house called the Juvenile Library, significant in the [[Children's literature#Origins of the modern genre|history of children's literature]]. Through this, Godwin wrote children's [[Primer (textbook)|primers]] on Biblical and classical history, and using the pseudonym ''Edward Baldwin'', he wrote a variety of books for children, including a version of [[Jack and the Beanstalk]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=William B.|title=Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History|type=Hardback|edition=Abridged|date= 2001|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-7864-1077-4}}</ref> and a biography of the Irish artist [[William Mulready]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=Sally|title=Victorian Britain (Routledge Revivals): An Encyclopedia|date=1988|page=516}}</ref> who illustrated works for them. They kept alive family ties, publishing the first book by [[Margaret King]] (then Lady Mount Cashell), who had been a favoured pupil of Mary Wollstonecraft.<ref>{{cite web|title=Margaret Jane King Moore: Stories of Old Daniel: or Tales of Wonder and Delight|url=https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34919|website=The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.4: Irish Writing and Culture, 400–present.|access-date=17 October 2017|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004021253/https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34919|url-status=live}}</ref> They published works never since out of print, such as [[Charles Lamb|Charles]] and [[Mary Lamb]]'s ''[[Tales from Shakespeare]]''. The Juvenile Library also translated European authors. The first English edition of ''[[Swiss Family Robinson]]'' was translated (from the French, not the German) and edited by them.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hahn|first1=Daniel|title=The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature|page=234|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mb66BwAAQBAJ&q=godwin+children+publisher&pg=PA234|access-date=16 October 2017|isbn=978-0199695140|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press |archive-date=2 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702190925/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mb66BwAAQBAJ&q=godwin+children+publisher&pg=PA234|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Blamires, David. 6. The Swiss Family Robinson In: Telling Tales: The Impact of Germany on English Children's Books 1780–1918 [online]. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2009 (generated 16 October 2017). Available on the Internet: <http://books.openedition.org/obp/605 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525144525/https://books.openedition.org/obp/605 |date=25 May 2021 }}>. {{ISBN|978-1906924119}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mary Jane Godwin|url=http://www4.wlv.ac.uk/btw/authors/1055|website=British Travel Writing|access-date=16 October 2017|archive-date=16 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716053902/http://www4.wlv.ac.uk/btw/authors/1055|url-status=live}}</ref> The business was the family's mainstay for decades.

In 1807 his tragedy ''[[Faulkener (play)|Faulkener]]'' was performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane without  more success than his earlier play.<ref>{{cite book|title= The History of Wisbech and the Fens|author= Walker & Craddock|year= 1848| publisher= Richard Walker}}</ref>

==Children==
[[File:Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1797).jpg|thumb|Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1797)]]

The eldest of Godwin's children was [[Fanny Imlay]] (1794–1816), who committed suicide as a young woman. Charles Gaulis Clairmont<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.nypl.org/cps/19551|title=Charles Gaulis Clairmont manuscript material|website=The New York Public Library|access-date=16 July 2018|archive-date=16 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716053822/http://archives.nypl.org/cps/19551|url-status=live}}</ref> ended up as Chair of English literature at [[Vienna University]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=McAllen|first1=M. M.|title=Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico|date=2014|page=21}}</ref> and taught sons of the royal family; news of his sudden death in 1849 distressed [[Maximilian I of Mexico|Maximilian]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Joffe|first1=Sharon|title=The Clairmont Family Letters, 1839–1889, Volume 2|date=2016|page=151}}</ref> Mary Godwin (1797–1851) gained fame as [[Mary Shelley]], author of ''[[Frankenstein]]''. Half a year younger than her was [[Claire Clairmont]], Mary Jane's only daughter, to whom she showed favouritism. The youngest, and the only child of the second marriage, was [[William Godwin the Younger]] (1803–1832). Godwin sent him first to [[Charterhouse School]] and then to various other establishments of a practical bent. Nonetheless, he eventually earned his living by the pen. He died at 29, leaving the manuscript of a novel, which Godwin saw into print. All of Godwin's children who lived into adulthood worked as writers or educators, carrying on his legacy and that of his wives. Only two of them had children who in turn survived: [[Sir Percy Shelley, 3rd Baronet|Percy Florence Shelley]], and the son and daughter of Charles. Godwin did not welcome the birth of [[Allegra Byron]], but Claire's only child died aged five.

Godwin had high hopes for Mary, giving her a more rigorous intellectual experience than most women of her period, and describing her as "very intelligent". He wished to give his daughter a more "masculine education" and prepared her to be a writer. However, Godwin withdrew his support as Mary became a woman and pursued her relationship with [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]].<ref>Carlson, Julie Ann. ''England's First Family of Writers: Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Mary Shelley''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2007. Print.</ref> Mary's first two novels, ''[[Frankenstein]]'' and ''[[Mathilda (novella)|Mathilda]]'', may be seen as a reaction to her childhood. Both explore the role of the father in the child's socialisation and the control the father has on the child's future.<ref name=HideousProgeny>Hill-Miller, Katherine. ''"My Hideous Progeny": Mary Shelley, William Godwin, and the Father-daughter Relationship''. Newark: U of Delaware, 1995. Print.</ref> Shelley's last two novels, ''[[Lodore]]'' and ''[[Falkner (novel)|Falkner]]'', re-evaluate the father-daughter relationship. They were written at a time when Shelley was raising [[Sir Percy Shelley, 3rd Baronet|her only surviving child]] alone and supporting her ageing father. In both novels, the daughter eludes the father's control by giving him the traditional maternal figure he asks for. This relationship gives the daughter control of the father.<ref name= HideousProgeny /><ref>{{cite web|last1=Greenlee|first1=Alison M.|title=The Swiss Family Robinson and... Frankenstein?|url=http://orgs.utulsa.edu/spcol/?p=1208|website=University of Tulsa|access-date=16 October 2017|date=10 October 2011|archive-date=16 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016070524/http://orgs.utulsa.edu/spcol/?p=1208|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Later years and death==
Godwin was awarded a [[sinecure]] position as Office Keeper and Yeoman Usher of the Receipt of the Exchequer,<ref>{{cite web|title=Events|url=http://godwindiary.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/events/pu0282.html|website=William Godwin's Diary|publisher=Bodleian Library|access-date=17 October 2017|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004021524/http://godwindiary.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/events/pu0282.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which came with [[grace and favour]] accommodation in [[New Palace Yard]], part of the complex of the [[Palace of Westminster]], i.e. the Houses of Parliament.<ref>{{cite book|title=An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice|date=2013|publisher=OUP|edition=Oxford World Classics}}</ref> One of his duties was to oversee the [[chimney sweep|sweeping of the chimneys]] of these extensive buildings. On 16 October 1834, a fire broke out and most of [[Burning of Parliament|the Palace burned down]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Events|url=http://godwindiary.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/events/pu0283.html|access-date=2022-02-06|website=godwindiary.bodleian.ox.ac.uk|archive-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206205230/http://godwindiary.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/events/pu0283.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Literary critic [[Marilyn Butler]] concluded her review of a 1980 biography of Godwin by comparing him favourably to [[Guy Fawkes]], joking that Godwin was more successful in his opposition to the status quo.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Butler|first=Marilyn|date=1980-04-03|title=The Professor|language=en|volume=02|work=London Review of Books|issue=6|url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n06/marilyn-butler/the-professor|access-date=2022-02-06|issn=0260-9592|archive-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206210717/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n06/marilyn-butler/the-professor|url-status=live}}</ref>

In later years, Godwin came to expect support and consolation from his daughter. Two of the five children he had raised had pre-deceased him, and two more lived abroad. Mary responded to his expectations and she cared for him until he died in 1836.

In 1836, Harriet de Boinville described Godwin's death, in a letter to his daughter Mary, as "the extinction of a mastermind. ... Everything is interesting which relates to such a man, one of the gifted few under whose moral influences society is now vibrating."<ref>Harriet de Boinville, letter to Mary Shelley, June 11, 1836, preserved in the University of Oxford Bodleian Libraries Abinger Collection. The letter is quoted in full in Barbara de Boinville, ''The Center of the Circle: Harriet de Boinville and the Writers She Influenced During Europe's Revolutionary Era'' (New Academia Publishing, 2023), pp. 243–246. </ref>

==Legacy and memorials==

Godwin was buried next to Mary Wollstonecraft in the graveyard of St Pancras, the church where they had married in 1797. His second wife outlived him, and eventually was buried there too. The three share a gravestone. In the 1850s, Mary Shelley's only surviving child, [[Sir Percy Shelley, 3rd Baronet|Percy Florence Shelley]], had the remains of Godwin and Wollstonecraft moved from what had become a run-down area of the capital to the more salubrious surroundings of Bournemouth, to [[St Peter's Church, Bournemouth#Notable worshippers and burials|his family tomb at St Peter's Church]].

The surviving manuscripts for many of Godwin's best-known works are held in the Forster Collection at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]. The V&A's manuscripts for ''[http://shelleygodwinarchive.org/contents/political_justice/ Political Justice]'' and ''[http://shelleygodwinarchive.org/contents/caleb_williams/ Caleb Williams]'' were both digitised in 2017 and are now included in the Shelley-Godwin Archive.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dodds |first=Douglas |date=2018 |title=From Analogue to Digital: Word and Image Digitization Projects at the V&A |journal=Journal of Victorian Culture |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=222–230|doi=10.1093/jvcult/vcy020|doi-access=free }}</ref>

His birthplace, Wisbech, has two memorials to him. A cul-de-sac was named in his honour Godwin Close, and a [[blue plaque|wall plaque]] adorns a building adjacent to the [[Angles Theatre]] in Alexandra Road.

==Works and ideas==
{{Anarchism UK|people}}
=== ''Enquiry Concerning Political Justice'' and ''Caleb Williams'' ===
In 1793, while the [[French Revolution]] was in full swing, Godwin published his great work on [[political science]], ''[[Political Justice|Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness]]''. The first part of this book was largely a recap of [[Edmund Burke]]'s ''[[A Vindication of Natural Society]]'' – a critique of the [[State (polity)|state]]. Godwin acknowledged the influence of Burke for this portion. The rest of the book is Godwin's positive vision of how an anarchist (or [[minarchism|minarchist]]) society might work. ''Political Justice'' was extremely influential in its time: after the writings of Burke and [[Thomas Paine|Paine]], Godwin's was the most popular written response to the French Revolution. Godwin's work was seen by many as illuminating a middle way between the fiery extremes of Burke and Paine. Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]] famously said that there was no need to censor it, because at over £1 it was too costly for the average Briton to buy. However, as was the practice at the time, numerous "[[London Corresponding Society|corresponding societies]]" took up ''Political Justice'', either sharing it or having it read to the illiterate members. Eventually, it sold over 4000 copies and brought literary fame to Godwin.

Godwin augmented the influence of ''Political Justice'' with the publication of a novel that proved equally popular, ''[[Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams]]''. This tells the story of a servant who finds out a dark secret about Falkland, his aristocratic master, and is forced to flee because of his knowledge. ''Caleb Williams'' is essentially the first thriller:{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|page=196}} Godwin wryly remarked that some readers were consuming in a night what took him over a year to write. Not the least of its merits is a portrait of the justice system of England and Wales at the time and a prescient picture of domestic espionage. His literary method, as he described it in the introduction to the novel, also proved influential: Godwin began with the conclusion of Caleb being chased through Britain, and developed the plot backwards. Dickens and Poe both commented on Godwin's ingenuity in doing this.

=== Political writing ===
In response to a [[1794 Treason Trials|treason trial]] of some of his fellow [[Jacobin (politics)#United Kingdom|British Jacobins]], among them [[Thomas Holcroft]], Godwin wrote ''Cursory Strictures on the Charge Delivered by [[Chief Justice of the Common Pleas|Lord Chief Justice]] [[James Eyre (judge)|Eyre]] to the Grand Jury, 2 October 1794'' in which he forcefully argued that the prosecution's concept of "constructive treason" allowed a judge to construe ''any'' behaviour as treasonous. It paved the way for a major victory for the Jacobins, as they were acquitted.

However, Godwin's own reputation was eventually besmirched after 1798 by the conservative press, in part because he chose to write a candid biography of his late wife, [[Mary Wollstonecraft]], entitled ''[[Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'', including accounts of her two suicide attempts and her affair (before her relationship with Godwin) with the American adventurer [[Gilbert Imlay]], which resulted in the birth of [[Fanny Imlay]].

Godwin, stubborn in his practice, practically lived in secret for 30 years because of his reputation. However, in its influence on writers such as Shelley, who read the work on multiple occasions between 1810 and 1820,{{Sfn|Locke|1980|page=[https://archive.org/details/fantasyofreasonl0000lock/page/246 246]}} and [[Kropotkin]], ''Political Justice'' takes its place with [[John Milton|Milton]]'s ''[[Areopagitica]]'' and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]]'s ''[[Emile: or, On Education|Émile]]'' as a defining anarchist and [[libertarian]] text.

=== Interpretation of political justice ===
By ''political justice'', the author meant "the adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community," and the work was therefore an inquiry into the principles of society, government, and [[morality|morals]]. For many years Godwin had been "satisfied that monarchy was a species of government unavoidably corrupt," and from desiring a government of the simplest construction, he gradually came to consider that "government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind," demonstrating [[anti-statist]] beliefs that would later be considered [[anarchist]].

Believing in the perfectibility of the human race, that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil, he considered that "our virtues and our vices may be traced to the incidents which make the history of our lives, and if these incidents could be divested of every improper tendency, vice would be extirpated from the world." All control of man by man was more or less intolerable, and the day would come when each man, doing what seems right in his own eyes, would also be doing what is in fact best for the community, because all will be guided by principles of pure reason.

Such optimism was combined with a strong [[empiricism]] to support Godwin's belief that the evil actions of men are solely reliant on the corrupting influence of social conditions, and that changing these conditions could remove the evil in man. This is similar to the ideas of his wife, [[Mary Wollstonecraft]], concerning the shortcomings of women as due to discouragement during their upbringing.

[[Peter Kropotkin]] remarked of Godwin that when "[[redistribution of income and wealth|speaking of property]], he stated that the rights of every one 'to every substance capable of contributing to the benefit of a human being' must be regulated by justice alone: the substance must go '[[from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs|to him who most wants it]]'. His conclusion was communism."<ref>[http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-anarchism-from-the-encyclopaedia-britannica "Anarchism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106164839/http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Petr_Kropotkin___Anarchism__from_the_Encyclopaedia_Britannica.html |date=6 January 2012 }} from the Encyclopædia Britannica by [[Peter Kropotkin]]</ref>

=== Debate with Malthus ===
In 1798, [[Thomas Robert Malthus]] wrote ''[[An Essay on the Principle of Population]]'' in response to Godwin's views on the "perfectibility of society". Malthus wrote that populations are inclined to increase in times of plenty, and that only distress, from causes such as food shortages, disease, or war, serves to stem population growth. Populations in his view are therefore always doomed to grow until distress is felt, at least by the poorer segment of the society. Consequently, poverty was felt to be an inevitable phenomenon of society.<blockquote>Let us imagine for a moment Mr. Godwin's beautiful system of equality realized in its utmost purity, and see how soon this difficulty might be expected to press under so perfect a form of society.... Let us suppose all the causes of misery and vice in this island removed. War and contention cease. Unwholesome trades and manufactories do not exist. Crowds no longer collect together in great and pestilent cities.... Every house is clean, airy, sufficiently roomy, and in a healthy situation.... And the necessary labours of agriculture are shared amicably among all. The number of persons, and the produce of the island, we suppose to be the same as at present. The spirit of benevolence, guided by impartial justice, will divide this produce among all the members of the society according to their wants....With these extraordinary encouragements to population, and every cause of depopulation, as we have supposed, removed, the numbers would necessarily increase faster than in any society that has ever yet been known....<ref name="ReferenceA">''An essay on the principle of population,'' (1798) Chap. 10.</ref></blockquote>

Malthus went on to argue that under such ideal conditions, the population could conceivably double every 25 years. However, the food supply could not continue doubling at this rate for even 50 years. The food supply would become inadequate for the growing population, and then:<blockquote>...the mighty law of self-preservation expels all the softer and more exalted emotions of the soul.... The corn is plucked before it is ripe, or secreted in unfair proportions; and the whole black train of vices that belong to falsehood are immediately generated. Provisions no longer flow in for the support of the mother with a large family. The children are sickly from insufficient food.... No human institutions here existed, to the perverseness of which Mr. Godwin ascribes the original sin of the worst men. No opposition had been produced by them between public and private good. No monopoly had been created of those advantages which reason directs to be left in common. No man had been goaded to the breach of order by unjust laws. Benevolence had established her reign in all hearts: and yet in so short a period as within fifty years, violence, oppression, falsehood, misery, every hateful vice, and every form of distress, which degrade and sadden the present state of society, seem to have been generated by the most imperious circumstances, by laws inherent in the nature of man, and absolutely independent of it human regulations.<ref name="ReferenceA"/></blockquote>

In ''Political Justice'' Godwin had acknowledged that an increase in the standard of living as he envisioned could cause population pressures, but he saw an obvious solution to avoiding distress: "project a change in the structure of human action, if not of human nature, specifically the eclipsing of the desire for sex by the development of intellectual pleasures".<ref name="Medema">Medema, Steven G., and Warren J. Samuels. 2003. The History of Economic Thought: A Reader. New York: [[Routledge]].</ref> In the 1798 version of his essay, Malthus specifically rejected this possible change in human nature. In the second and subsequent editions, however, he wrote that widespread ''moral restraint,'' i.e., postponement of marriage and pre-nuptial celibacy ([[sexual abstinence]]), could reduce the tendency of a population to grow until distress was felt.<ref>
Geoffrey Gilbert, introduction to Malthus T.R. 1798. ''An essay on the principle of population''. Oxford World's Classics reprint. xviii
</ref>
Godwin also saw new technology as being partly responsible for the future change in human nature into more intellectually developed beings. He reasoned that increasing technological advances would lead to a decrease in the amount of time individuals spent on production and labour, and thereby, to more time spent on developing "their intellectual and moral faculties".<ref name="Medema"/> Instead of population growing exponentially, Godwin believed that this moral improvement would outrun the growth of population. Godwin pictured a social utopia where society would reach a level of sustainability and engage in "voluntary communism".<ref name="Medema" />

In July 1820, Godwin published ''Of Population: An Enquiry Concerning the Power of Increase in the Numbers of Mankind'' as a rebuttal to Malthus' essays. Godwin's main argument was against Malthus' notion that population tends to grow exponentially. Godwin believed that for population to double every twenty-five years (as Malthus had asserted had occurred in the United States, due to the expanse of resources available there), every married couple would have to have at least eight children, given the rate of childhood deaths. Godwin himself was one of thirteen children, but he did not observe the majority of couples in his day having eight children. He therefore concluded:<blockquote>In reality, if I had not taken up the pen with the express purpose of confuting all the errors of Mr Malthus's book, and of endeavouring to introduce other principles, more cheering, more favourable to the best interests of mankind, and better prepared to resist the inroads of vice and misery, I might close my argument here, and lay down the pen with this brief remark, that, when this author shall have produced from any country, the United States of North America not excepted, a register of marriages and births, from which it shall appear that there are on an average eight births to a marriage, then, and not till then, can I have any just reason to admit his doctrine of the geometrical ratio.<ref name="Medema" /></blockquote>

=== Interest in earthly immortality ===
In his first edition of ''Political Justice'' Godwin included arguments favouring the possibility of "earthly immortality" (what would now be called [[physical immortality]]), but later editions of the book omitted this topic. Although the belief in such a possibility is consistent with his philosophy regarding perfectibility and human progress, he probably dropped the subject because of political expedience when he realised that it might discredit his other views.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Siobhan Ni Chonailla | title='Why may not man one day be immortal?': Population, perfectibility, and the immortality question in Godwin's Political Justice | journal=History of European Ideas  | volume=33 | issue=1 | year=2007 | pages=25–39 | doi = 10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2006.06.003  | s2cid=17846464 }}</ref>

==Works==
===Novels===
* ''Damon and Delia, A Tale'' (1784)
* ''Imogen: A Pastoral Romance From the Ancient British'' (1784)
* ''[[Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams]]'' (1794)
* ''[[St. Leon (novel)|St. Leon]]'' (1799)
* ''The Looking Glass: A True History of the Early Years of an Artist'' (1805)
* ''[[Fleetwood (novel)|Fleetwood]]'' (1805)
* ''[[Mandeville (novel)|Mandeville]]'' (1817)
* ''[[Cloudesley|Cloudesley: A Tale]]'' (1830)
* ''Deloraine'' (1833)

===Other fiction===
* Antonio: A Tragedy In Five Acts (1800) – play
* Fables, Ancient And Modern: Adapted For The Use Of Children (1840) – posthumously published

===Major non-fiction===
* ''[[Political Justice|Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness]]'' (1793)
* ''[[The Enquirer (Godwin)|The Enquirer]]'' (London: [[George Robinson (1737–1801)|George Robinson]], 1797; rev. 1823)
* ''[[Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'' (1798)
* ''Life of Geoffrey Chaucer'' (1804)
* ''The Pantheon: Or, Ancient History of the Gods of Greece and Rome'' (1814)
* ''Lives Of Edward And John Philips, Nephews And Pupils Of Milton'' (1815)
* ''Life of Lady Jane Grey, and of Lord Guildford Dudley, Her Husband'' (1824)
* ''[[History of the Commonwealth (book)]]'' (1824–1828)
* ''Thoughts on Man, his Nature, Productions, and Discoveries, Interspersed with some particulars respecting the author'' (1831)
* ''[[Lives of the Necromancers]]'' (1834)
* ''Transfusion'' (1835)

==Family tree==
{{Family tree of William Godwin}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|3}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Godwin, William|volume=12|pages=177–178}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29978|title=Shelley, Godwin, and their circle|first=Henry Noel|last=Brailsford|author-link=H. N. Brailsford|year=2009|orig-date=1913|via=gutenberg.org|location=[[London]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|series=Home University Library of Modern Knowledge|volume=LXXVII|access-date=16 July 2018|archive-date=1 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801031822/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29978|url-status=live|oclc=914564890}}
* {{cite book|last=Bakay|first=Gonlil|year=2016|title=William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and their offspring, Victor Frankenstein: A Family of Rebels|location=[[Lewiston (town), New York|Lewiston]]|publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|lccn=2016010810|isbn=9781495504525|oclc=944086351}}
* {{cite book|last=Butler|first=Marilyn|author-link=Marilyn Butler|title=Burke, Paine, Godwin, and the Revolution Controversy|location=[[Cambridge]]|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=1984|isbn=0-521-28656-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Carlson|first=Julie A.|year=2007|title=England's First Family of Writers: Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Mary Shelley|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|location=[[Baltimore]]|isbn=978-0-8018-8618-8|oclc=1160369044}}
* {{cite book|series=[[The Story of Civilization]]|volume=9|title=The Age of Voltaire|first=Will|last=Durant|author-link=Will Durant|location=[[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=1965|isbn=0671013254|oclc=416169760}}
* {{cite book|last=Gagliano|first=G.|title=Utopia e antagonismo politico. Nella riflessione di Gerrard Winstanley e William Godwin|location=[[Rome]]|year=2013|publisher=Aracne|isbn=978-88-548-6453-5|language=it}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Marshall|editor-first=Peter H.|editor-link=Peter Marshall (author, born 1946)|last=Godwin|first=William|title=The Anarchist Writings of William Godwin|location=[[London]]|year=1986|publisher=[[Freedom Press]]|isbn=978-0-900384-29-5}}
* {{cite book | last=Locke |first= Don | title=A Fantasy of Reason: The Life & Thought of William Godwin | url=https://archive.org/details/fantasyofreasonl0000lock | url-access=registration | publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul | year=1980| isbn=9780710003874 }}
* {{cite book|title=[[William Godwin (biography)|William Godwin: Philosopher, Novelist, Revolutionary]]|year=1984|location=London & New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300105445|first=Peter H.|last=Marshall|author-link=Peter Marshall (author, born 1946)}}
* {{cite book|first=Peter H.|last = Marshall|author-link=Peter Marshall (author, born 1946)|title=[[Demanding the Impossible|Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism]]|year=2008|orig-year=1992|location=[[London]]|publisher=[[Harper Perennial]]|isbn=978-0-00-686245-1|oclc=218212571}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=McElroy |first=Wendy |author-link=Wendy McElroy |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |title=Godwin, William (1856–1836) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing|Sage]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |isbn=978-1-4129-6580-4 |oclc=750831024 |lccn=2008009151 |page=211 |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n126 |chapter=Godwin, William (1756–1836) |access-date=12 December 2016 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930100756/https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC%2F |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book|last1=Mukherjee|first1=S.|last2=Ramaswamy|first2=S.|title=William Godwin: His Thoughts and Works|location=[[New Delhi]]|year=2002|publisher=Deep & Deep Publications|isbn=978-81-7100-754-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Newton|first=A. Edward|author-link=A. Edward Newton|title=The amenities of book-collecting|year=1918|publisher=The Atlantic Monthly Press|location=Boston|pages=226–248|chapter=A Ridiculous Philosopher|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/amenitiesofbookc00newtiala#page/226/mode/1up}} <!--(A droll biographical essay.)-->
* {{Cite book|title=Political And Philosophical Writings Of William Godwin|last=Philp|first=Mark|publisher=Pickering & Chatto Limited|year=1993|isbn=1-85196-093-7|location=London}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Terms of Order: Political Science and the Myth of Leadership|first=Cedric J.|last=Robinson|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1980|isbn=978-0-87395-411-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhYV14mscZUC&pg=PA171|access-date=5 August 2016|archive-date=10 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210014100/https://books.google.com/books?id=LhYV14mscZUC&pg=PA171|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|last=Stephen|first=Leslie|author-link=Leslie Stephen|title=Studies of a Biographer|volume=3|year=1902|publisher=Duckworth & Co.|location=London|pages=119–164|chapter=[[s:Studies of a Biographer/William Godwin's Novels|William Godwin's Novels]]}}
* {{cite book|author-link=William St Clair|last=St. Clair|first=William|title=The Godwins and the Shelleys: The biography of a family|location=[[New York City|New York]]|publisher=W.W. Norton and Co.|year=1989|isbn=0-8018-4233-6}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Emily W. Sunstein|last=Sunstein|first=Emily|title=A Different Face: the Life of Mary Wollstonecraft|location=[[Boston]]|publisher=Little, Brown and Co.|year=1975|isbn=0-06-014201-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Richard Gough|year=2019|title=William Godwin: A Political Life|location=[[London]]|publisher=[[Pluto Press]]|isbn=978-1-7868-0389-4|oclc=1090781689}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Claire Tomalin|last=Tomalin|first=Claire|title=The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft|orig-date=1974|location=[[New York City|New York]]|publisher=Penguin|year=1992a|isbn=0-14-016761-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Wardle|first=Ralph M.|title=Mary Wollstonecraft: A Critical Biography|location=[[Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln]]|publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|year=1951}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
* {{IEP|godwin|William Godwin}}
* [http://godwindiary.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/index2.html William Godwin's Diary]
* [http://edpopehistory.co.uk/ Detailed notes on people appearing in William Godwin's Diary]
* [http://utilitarian.net/godwin William Godwin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222193125/http://utilitarian.net/godwin |date=22 December 2016 }}
* {{anarchives|godwin/Godwinarchive.html|Godwin archive}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=380 | name=William Godwin}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=William Godwin}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2020}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091203150627/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/godwin/william/ Works of William Godwin]  at [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012100614/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ eBooks@Adelaide]
* [http://shelleygodwinarchive.org/ The Shelley-Godwin Archive]
* [http://shelleysghost.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/william-godwin-index Letters and artefacts associated with Godwin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621084439/http://shelleysghost.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/william-godwin-index |date=21 June 2013 }} at the [[Bodleian Library]]'s Shelley's Ghost online exhibition
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* {{NPG name}}

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