He was knighted on 14 February 1989[6][11] and was created a life peerasBaron Goodhart, of Youlbury in the County of Oxfordshire, on 23 October 1997.[12] In the House of Lords, he served as a spokesman for the Liberal Democrats in several capacities, usually relating to legal matters, including as the Liberal Democrats' Shadow Lord Chancellor.[6] Before the House of Lords Act 1999 he campaigned to reform the Upper House, and later in his career expressed frustration at its undemocratic nature.[1]
He retired from the House of Lords on 15 May 2015.[13]
A devoted humanist, Goodhart was a longtime member of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, as well as the British Humanist Association (BHA).[14] He was among a number of parliamentarians who in 2010 called for substantive reforms of public services in Britain following a BHA report into religious influence in public services.[15]
From 2007 to 2009, Goodhart was the Chairman of JUSTICE,[6] the UK section of the International Commission of Jurists, as well as serving as a Commissioner of the ICJ since 1993. He was elected as vice-president of the ICJ in 2002. He was an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.[3]
Goodhart married the Hon. Celia Herbert (born 25 July 1936), eldest daughter of the 2nd Baron Hemingford and younger sister of the 3rd Baron Hemingford, on 21 May 1966. They had three children:[16][17] Annabel Frances Goodhart (born 22 August 1967; married to James Dallas; three daughters), Laura Christabel Goodhart (born 25 December 1970; married to William Watts; three sons), and Benjamin Herbert Goodhart (born 29 December 1972; partner of Wendy Young; one son).[18]
^Catalogue of the papers of Arthur Lehman Goodhart (1891-1978) by Ruth Burchnall University of Oxford, Bodleian Library – 1993 |With (Sir) William H. Goodhart, with a few letters from his wife Celia McClare Goodhart, and including letters to Cecily Goodhart, 1956-c.1970, with (fols. 50-6) letters to (Sir) William H. Goodhart from various correspondents, 1947-71
