Sir Henry Cubitt Gooch was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

, educationalist and Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician.

Henry Cubitt Gooch was the second son of Charles Cubitt Gooch and Mary Blake, and an older brother to George Peabody Gooch

George Peabody Gooch

George Peabody Gooch OM, CH was a British journalist, historian and Liberal Party politician. A follower of Lord Acton, he never held an academic position, but knew the work of historians of continental Europe.-Early life:...

. He was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

 before being called to the bar at the Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

. He had a keen interest in education, and was a member of the London School Board

London School Board

The School Board for London was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London....

 from 1897 until its abolition in 1904. In 1907 he was elected to the London County Council

London County Council

London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

, representing Dulwich

Dulwich (UK Parliament constituency)

Dulwich was a borough constituency in the Dulwich area of South London, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 for the Conservative-supported Municipal Reform Party

Municipal Reform Party

The Municipal Reform Party was a local party allied to the parliamentary Conservative Party in the County of London. The party contested elections to both the London County Council and metropolitan borough councils of the county from 1906 to 1945.-Formation:...

. He presided over a number of the LCC education committees.

At a by-election in 1908

Peckham by-election, 1908

The Peckham by-election, 1908 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Peckham in the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, London on 24 March 1908...

 Gooch was elected as Conservative member of parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Peckham

Peckham (UK Parliament constituency)

Peckham was a borough constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

, winning the seat from the Liberals

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

. He held the seat at the ensuing election in January 1910, but was defeated by his Liberal opponent in December 1910.

In 1916 the British government appointed two committees to review the provision of education in the United Kingdom. Gooch was made a member of the Modern Languages Committee, which had the duty to advise on the measures that were needed to promote the study of languages "regards being had to the requiremants of a liberal education

Liberal education

A Liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment...

, including an appreciation of the hisdtory, literature and civilisation of other countries, and to the interests of commerce and public service". He was subsequently appointed to the secondary and technical Burnham Committees which set the salary scales for teaching staff.

Gooch continued his association with the London County Council, and served as its chairman in 1923–1924. In 1928 he was knighted

Knight Bachelor

The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...

 as part of the Birthday Honours

Queen's Birthday Honours

The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...

 "for political and public services in the County of London

County of London

The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...

"

He married Maud Mary Hudleston in 1897, and they had three children. He died in January 1959, aged 87.

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