Los Angeles County
Biographies
HERBERT J. GOUDGE
GOUDGE, HERBERT J., Attorney-at-Law, Los Angeles, California, a native of London, England, was born in 1863, on April 26; his parents were Nathaniel Edmund Goudge and Agnes (Bateman) Goudge.
He was married on February 1l, 1891, to Miss Nellie Agnes Tighe, in Los Angeles.
Mr. and Mrs. Goudge have three children: Agnes, George Philip and Mildred Goudge.
He attended first the City of London School, then the City of London College, and then Kings College in London, following a course of legal studies, for which he had a natural inclination.
But finding his health failing, he was forced to forego the professional career contemplated and begin a quest for strength, one that happily proved eminently successful.
He spent two years in travel about his own country and on the continent of Europe, afterwards coming to New York, where a branch of his family have lived for generations. There he remained for a short time and then projected a lengthy journey to Panama, which he undertook and which led him later to the west coast of Central America and Mexico, and finally to San Francisco, where he arrived in 1888.
California presented its varied attractions and resources to him, and after traversing the State from San Francisco to San Diego, with a view to a life in the open, he entered farming, moving to Ventura County, where he set out a very large tract of land to citrus and deciduous fruits.
While pursuing the life of a farmer with a high degree of success, Mr. Goudge found the lure of the law still insistent, and he resumed his readings and studies, adapting himself readily to the requirements of the profession as existing in California, and was admitted to practice in the Superior Courts of Ventura County in 1893.
Almost immediately (1894) he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State of California, and in 1907 he attained the right to appear before the highest tribunal of the country and successfully argued his first case before the United States Supreme Court.
Soon after his admission to the California bar, Mr. Goudge found that his business grew so rapidly that he was encouraged to place himself in a larger circle and more pronounced center of affairs, so he removed to Los Angeles in 1895, where he engaged in the practice of his profession.
He took a decided interest in municipal affairs, and was led to accept the position of First Assistant City Attorney in 1901, a place that he continued to fill with credit to himself and valuable results to the city until 1906.
During his term of office Mr. Goudge distinguished himself by his work in connection with the legislation required by the tremendous growth of the city.
Both in constructive legislation and in the presentation of such matters before the Senate and Assembly at Sacramento Mr. Goudge proved of great worth to the community. He placed a prominent part in many important events in the history of the city, such as the taking over of the City Water Company’s plant, the acquisition of the Owens River water rights and the preservation of the Los Angeles River bed from private exploitation.
On his retirement from office Mr. Goudge became a member of the new firm of Cochran, Williams, Goudge and Chandler, which after the retirement of Mr. George I. Cochran from practice became Williams, Goudge and Chandler. He is a director of the Home Savings Bank and president of the Cotenants Co. He is a member of the Southwest Society, Archaeological Institute of America and L. A. County Horticultural Society, the California Union League and Sunset Clubs.
Transcribed 4-10-09
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 232,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2009 Marilyn R. Pankey.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES