Place name
Named after Michael Godfrey (February 22, 1658 – July 17, 1695), the first Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, whose family hailed from Woodford, then in Essex. He wrote the first by-laws of the Bank but he is perhaps best known for his untimely death. In July 1695 he traveled to Flanders to talk about setting up a branch of the bank to mint coins for paying the troops. The king under siege at the Battle of Namur, invited them to see the action close-up, where the unfortunate Godfrey was killed by a canon ball.
