William Henry Goddard
William Henry Goddard was an English merchant who traded in the Gambia in the early 19th century.
Goddard was born in Nunton, Wiltshire, and was still in his teens when he first arrived in Gambia. He married a local woman, Ellen Casteign, and they had two daughters. From 1819 they lived in the town of Bathurst, where Goddard and another British trader, Charles Grant, had a timber export business. Goddard and Grant were among the first British settlers in the country. Goddard was a member of the Legislative Council from 1843, and in 1860 he set up the Gambia Trading Company. His nephews, William and Alfred, came to Gambia to work for him.
In 1862, Goddard retired to Britain, and in Hampstead he would die, aged 77. His nephew William took over the company after his death.
