George Goring , Lord Goring George Goring , Lord Goring ( 14 July 1608 – 1657 ) was an English Royalist soldier . He was known by the courtesy title " Lord Goring " as the eldest son of the 1st Earl of Norwich . The Goring family . The son of George Goring , 1st Earl of Norwich , Goring became famous at court for his prodigality and dissolute manners . He was married to Lettice Boyle , daughter of Richard Boyle , 1st Earl of Cork , and his father - in - law procured for him a post in the Dutch Army with the rank of colonel . He was permanently lamed by a wound received at Breda in 1637 , and returned to England early in 1639 , when he was made governor of Portsmouth . Experience before the Civil Wars . He served in the Bishops ' Wars , and already had a considerable reputation when he was involved in the " Army Plot " ( 1641 ) . Officers of the army stationed at York proposed to petition the king and parliament for the maintenance of the royal authority . A second party was in favour of more violent measures , and Goring , in the hope of being appointed lieutenant - general , proposed to march the army on London and overawe the Parliament during Strafford ' s trial ( 1641 ) . This proposition being rejected by his fellow - officers , he betrayed the proceedings to Mountjoy Blount , 1st Earl of Newport , who passed on the information indirectly to John Pym in April . The ' Lieutenant - General of Horse ' . Colonel Goring was thereupon called on to give evidence before the Commons , who commended him for his services to the Commonwealth . This betrayal of his comrades induced confidence in the minds of the parliamentary leaders , who sent him back to his Portsmouth command . Nevertheless he declared for the king in August . He surrendered Portsmouth to the parliament in September 1642 after the Siege of Portsmouth and went to the Netherlands to recruit for the Royalist army , returning to England in December . Appointed to a cavalry command by the Earl of Newcastle , he defeated Fairfax at Seacroft Moor near Leeds in March 1643 , but in May he was taken prisoner at Wakefield on the capture of the town by Fairfax . In April 1644 he effected an exchange . At the Battle of Marston Moor , Goring commanded the Royalist left , and charged with great success , but , allowing his troopers to disperse in search of plunder , was routed by Oliver Cromwell at the close of the battle . In November 1644 , on his father ' s elevation to the earldom of Norwich , he became Lord Goring . The parliamentary authorities , however , refused to recognize the creation of the earldom , and continued to speak of the father as " Lord Goring " and the son as " General Goring " . In August Goring had been despatched by Prince Rupert of the Rhine , who recognized his ability , to join Charles I in the south , and in spite of his dissolute and insubordinate character he was appointed to supersede Henry , Lord Wilmot , as lieutenant - general of the Royalist horse . He secured some successes in the west , and in January 1645 advanced through Hampshire and occupied Farnham ; but want of money compelled him to retreat to Salisbury and thence to Exeter . The excesses committed by his troops seriously injured the Royalist cause , and his exactions made his name hated throughout the west . He had himself prepared to besiege Taunton in March 1645 , yet when in the next month he was desired by Prince Charles , who was at Bristol , to send reinforcements to Sir Richard Grenville for the siege of Taunton , he obeyed the order only with ill - humour . Later in April 1645 he was summoned with his troops to the relief of the king at Oxford . Lord Goring had long been intriguing for an independent command , and he now secured from the king what was practically supreme authority in the west . It was alleged by the Earl of Newport that he was willing to transfer his allegiance once more to the parliament . It is not likely that he meditated open treason , but he was culpably negligent and occupied with private ambitions and jealousies . He was still engaged in desultory operations against Taunton when the main campaign of 1645 opened . For the part taken by Goring ' s army in the operations of the Naseby campaign see English Civil War . After the decisive defeat of the king , the army of Fairfax marched into the west and defeated Goring in a disastrous fight at Langport on July 10 , 1645 . He made no further serious resistance to the parliamentary general , but wasted his time in frivolous amusements , and in November 1645 he obtained leave to quit his disorganised forces and retire to France on the ground of health . His father ' s services secured him the command of some English regiments in the Spanish service . He died at Madrid in July or August 1657 . Clarendon says of Goring that he " would , without hesitation , have broken any trust , or done any act of treachery to have satisfied an ordinary passion or appetite ; and in truth wanted nothing but industry ( for he had wit , and courage , and understanding and ambition , uncontrolled by any fear of God or man ) to have been as eminent and successful in the highest attempt of wickedness as any man in the age he lived in or before . Of all his qualifications dissimulation was his masterpiece ; in which he so much excelled , that men were not ordinarily ashamed , or out of countenance , with being deceived but twice by him . "