Gabriel Goodman, Doctor of Divinity, Dean of the Collegiate Church of Westminster, ‘a sad grave man’ according to Archbishop Parker, was born at Ruthin in Denbighshire about 1529, being the second son of Edward Goodman, burgess and mercer of that town, by his wife ‘Ciselye’, daughter of Edward Thelwall of Plas y Ward. Although a Welsh origin has been claimed for the Ruthin Goodmans, it is probable that like the Thelwalls they were descended from English settlers in the Vale of Clwyd.