Thomas Godwin was both born and died in Wokingham in Berkshire. For tuition he entered the household of Richard Layton, then Archdeacon of Buckingham and subsequently Dean of York. Sponsored by Layton, he proceeded to Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1543, gaining a fellowship, and proceeding M.A. in 1547. When Magdalen College established a school at Brackley, Godwin was appointed its first headmaster. On the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary, Godwin was obliged to leave the school. To support his young family he returned to Oxford to study medicine, graduating B.Med. with licence to practice medicine on 17 June 1555. After the accession of Queen Elizabeth he turned to divinity. Godwin rapidly became a popular preacher. Elizabeth 1st was so pleased with his 'good parts' and 'goodly person' that in 1565 she appointed his one of her Lent preachers. In June 1565 he was appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and proceeded B.D. and D.D.. When Elizabeth visited Oxford in 1565, Godwin was one of the four divines appointed to hold theological disputations before her. The winter after her visit Elizabeth promoted Godwin to Dean of Canterbury a post he held for 17 years. In 1576 he became one of the ecclesiastical commissioners. Godwin served as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, 1565–1567 and as Dean of Canterbury 1567–1584. Elizabeth later appointed him Bishop of Bath and Wells on 10 August 1584.
Family
Godwin was first married to Isabella Purefoy and had nine children. In later life at Wells he married a widow, Margaret Martin nee Brennan
Margaret Swift, wife of Reverend Thomas Swift, rector of St. Andrew's Church, Canterbury. They were great-great-grandparents to the satirist Dean Jonathan Swift. Margaret and their children are buried at Canterbury Cathedral.
Godwin was appointed to Wells in September 1584 at the age of 67 the second of the protestant bishops consecrated. The see had been void for three years and came with difficult canons. While at Wells and long widowed, he lived a semi-invalid life increasingly lame with gout. Several of his family and extended family were also reverends and canons, his son Francis Godwin, the ecclesiastical historian, later becoming Bishop of Llandaff. Others immersed themselves in local politics. During his time as bishop Sir Walter Raleigh tried to seize the manor and lands of Banwell from the bishopric on a hundred years' lease. When Bishop Thomas Godwin refused, Sir Walter Raleigh chose to demean the Bishop to Elizabeth 1st stating incorrectly the bishop had married a much younger woman. This incensed the queen despite The Earl of Bedford warmly defending the bishop. In order to save Banwell for the bishopric Godwin had to lease Wilscombe Manor to Raleigh instead. However the damage to Godwin's long standing reputation with the queen had been done. Suffering from quartan ague, Bishop Thomas Godwin returned home to Wokingham, Berkshire in 1590 where on 19th November 1590 he died. He was buried under the chancel of the parish church of All Saints' Church, Wokingham with an inscription by his son Francis sub-dean of Exeter, later Bishop of Llandaff.. On his death the See of Bath and Wells was left in an on-going situation of mistrust and corruption among its canons which Godwin had been unable to deal with.
