William Goulding

{{Short description|Irish Conservative Party politician}}

{{other people}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}

William Goulding (15 November 1817 – 8 December 1884){{cite web |url=http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ccommons5.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090810231328/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ccommons5.htm |archive-date=10 August 2009 |title=Historical list of MPs: House of Commons constituencies beginning with "C", part 5 |work=Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages |url-status=usurped |accessdate=4 December 2009}} was an Irish Conservative Party politician from Cork. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1876 to 1880.

At the general election in February 1874, he was stood unsuccessfully as a candidate in Cork City, where both seats were won by nationalist Repeal Association candidates.{{cite book

| title = Parliamentary election results in Ireland 1801–1922

| editor = Brian M. Walker

| publisher = Royal Irish Academy

| location = Dublin

| year = 1978

| isbn = 0-901714-12-7

| pages = 115–116

}} After the Home Rule League MP Joseph Ronayne died in May 1876, the nationalist vote at the resulting by-election was split between two candidates for the single seat, and Goulding won the seat in the House of Commons.Walker, op. cit., page 121 However, at the 1880 general election, nationalists fielded only two candidates for Cork's two seats, and Goulding was defeated.

He stood again at the by-election in February 1884 after the resignation of John Daly, but was defeated again.Walker, op. cit., page 129 Two Conservatives candidates contested Cork City at the 1885 general election, and one Unionist candidate stood at the by-election in 1891, but Goulding was the last Conservative or Unionist to be elected as MP for Cork City.Walker, op. cit., pages 334–335

After his death in 1884, a stained glass window representing the Good Shepherd was erected to his memory on the east wall of Taney parish church in Dundrum, County Dublin.{{cite web|url=http://www.taneyparish.ie/history.html|title=A Brief History|work=Taney Parish website|accessdate=4 December 2009}}