Godfrey Carter

{{Short description|Australian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder |

| honorific-prefix =

| name= Godfrey Downes Carter

| honorific-suffix=

| image= File:Photograph of godfrey downes carter.png

| caption=

| nationality=

| order=39th Mayor of Melbourne

| term_start=1884

| term_end=1885

| deputy=

| predecessor=Charles Smith

| successor=James Cooper Stewart

| birth_date= 1830

| birth_place= Jamaica

| death_date= 29 April 1902

| death_place=South Yarra, Victoria

| spouse=

| party=

}}

Godfrey Downes Carter (1830 – 29 April 1902) was an Australian businessman, politician and mayor of Melbourne from 1884 to 1885.{{cite book|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/carter-godfrey-downes-3174|title=Biography - Godfrey Downes Carter - Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter=Carter, Godfrey Downes (1830–1902) |publisher=adb.anu.edu.au|accessdate=2014-06-11}}

Born in Jamaica the son of a slaveholder, Carter was educated in England, and migrated to Australia in 1853. He would ultimately benefit from the compensation his father received from the British government for 22 slaves upon the abolition of slavery.Fernandes, C. Island Off the Coast of Asia: Instruments of statecraft in Australian foreign policy (Melbourne: Monash University Publishing, 2018), 14.{{cite web| url = https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/11877| title = Summary of Individual {{!}} Legacies of British Slavery}} Following his term as mayor, Carter represented the Electoral district of West Melbourne in the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1885 to 1889. Carter died in South Yarra, Victoria on 29 April 1902.