Place Name
Captain Harry Gough (April 2, 1681 – July 13, 1751), was a merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1751. In 1719 he bought a property in Pettins Ware, a name for the northern end of Baker Street at the junction of the road leading to Clay Hill, so named at least since 1686. Aged 11 Harry joined his uncle, Richard Gough, on a trip to China. It was during this time that he began to learn about business. He later joined the British East India Company under his patronage becoming a captain of a merchantman, the Streatham, between 1707 to 1715. Steadily rising through the ranks he became Deputy Chairman in 1736, and full Chairman the next year, he held one or other of the posts on and off until his death. In the 1734 general election he was returned as member of Parliament for Bramber, a notoriously rotten borough, by his cousin, also called Sir Harry Gough. Attending debates, despite suffering from gout, he voted consistently with the Administration. His son was the antiquarian, Richard Gough, who inherited the Enfield property adding a library with a Gothic window and fireplace designed by James Essex. Gough left his topographical material, including two volumes of notes on Enfield, to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and in 1806 recalled many pleasing hours of research in his native parish. His house, which became known as Gough Park, was demolished in 1899.
