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Phillips Lee Goldsborough

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Phillips Lee Goldsborough
47th Governor of Maryland
In office January 10, 1912 – January 12, 1916
Preceded by	Austin L. Crothers
Succeeded by	Emerson C. Harrington
United States Senator from Maryland
In office March 4, 1929 – January 3, 1935
Preceded by	William Cabell Bruce
Succeeded by	George L. P. Radcliffe
17th Comptroller of Maryland
In office 1898–1900
Governor	Lloyd Lowndes Jr.
Preceded by	Robert Patterson Graham
Succeeded by	Joshua W. Hering
State's Attorney for Dorchester County
In office 1891–1898
Personal details
Born	(1865-08-06)August 6, 1865 Princess Anne, Maryland, U.S.
Died	October 22, 1946(1946-10-22) (aged 81) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Resting place	Christ Episcopal Church
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Ellen Showell ​ ​ (m. 1893; died 1930)​
Children	3

Phillips Lee Goldsborough I (August 6, 1865 – October 22, 1946), was an American Republican politician who was the 47th Governor of Maryland from 1912 to 1916 and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1929 to 1935.

He was also Comptroller of the Maryland Treasury from 1898 to 1900.^[1][2] To date, he is the last Republican to serve as Comptroller of Maryland.

Goldsborough was born in Princess Anne, Maryland and was educated in public and private schools, including Episcopal High School.^[3] While working as a clerk for the United States Navy, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1886, commencing practice in Cambridge, Maryland soon thereafter. He also held an interest in banking. In 1893 he married Mary Ellen Showell (c. 1865 – 1930) and they had two sons: Brice W. Goldsborough; and Phillips Lee Goldsborough II.

In 1891 and in 1895, Goldsborough was elected state's attorney for Dorchester County, Maryland. In 1897, he was elected to the position of comptroller of the treasury of Maryland, but was defeated for reelection in 1899 by Dr. Joshua W. Hering. As of 2018^[update], he is the last Republican to have served as Maryland Comptroller.

He was appointed collector of internal revenue for the district of Maryland in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt and later by President William Howard Taft.

Over time, Goldsborough built a large base of support in the state, which encouraged him to run for Governor of Maryland in 1911. He defeated Democratic challenger Arthur Pue Gorman Jr., becoming only the second Republican governor in state history up to that time.

Goldsborough's tenure as governor saw a great deal of education reform, including the appointment of school boards and teacher certification. It was also during his tenure that the state purchased the Maryland Agricultural College, which is now the University of Maryland, College Park.

Goldsborough sought the Republican nomination for the Class I U.S. Senate seat from Maryland in 1916, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Joseph I. France. He left politics afterwards and resumed his law practice in Cambridge, and also became president of the National Union Bank.

When Republican Herbert Hoover was elected President of the United States, Goldsborough again sought the same senate seat in Maryland. He was elected to the United States Senate in the election of 1928, defeating incumbent William Cabell Bruce.

In 1934, he was not a candidate for re-election to the senate, but instead ran again for Governor of Maryland. He lost in the Republican primary to Harry W. Nice, who went on to win the general election.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Goldsborough to the director's board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1935. He served in that position until he died in 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is buried in the old churchyard of Christ Episcopal Church of his hometown of Cambridge.

^ Kinsolving, Arthur Barksdale (1922). The Story of a Southern School. The Norman, Remington Co. p. 122. Retrieved October 20, 2023 – via Archive.org.

• United States Congress. "Phillips Lee Goldsborough (id: G000262)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• Media related to Phillips Lee Goldsborough at Wikimedia Commons