Background
Goold was born of a wealthy Protestant family in Cork.
Goold was born of a wealthy Protestant family in Cork.
Coming to Dublin about 1789 he proceeded to squander his patrimony, some 10,000l, in rioting and entertainments, at which Grattan, Saurin, Bushe, Plunkett, and others, are said to have been present. Having come to the end of his resources, he applied himself zealously to practice at the bar, to which he had been called in 1791. A pamphlet in defence of Burke"s ‘Reflections on the French Revolution,’ ‘against all his opponents,’ gained him the honour of an invitation to Beaconsfield, and an introduction to Lord Fitzwilliam, made useless by the viceroy"s prompt recall.
He was a "strenuous and vehement opponent of the Acting of Union".
In 1818 he gave evidence at the bar of the House of Commons upon the inquiry into the conduct of Windham Quin. Meanwhile his practice had been rapidly increasing.
Indeed it has been said that he was the best nisi prius lawyer who ever held a brief at the Irish Barometer In 1830 he was appointed king"s serjeant, and a master in chancery in 1832.
He died at Lissadell, company
In 1799 Goold wrote an ‘Address to the People of Ireland on the subject of the projected Union,’ and sat in the last session of the Irish parliament as a member of the opposition. In 1824 West. H. Curran calls him one of the most prominent members of the Irish bar, and he had been appointed third serjeant in the previous year.