Goderich was born Frederick John Robinson in 1782. He was the son of an aristocratic Yorkshire family, and his father was the Foreign Secretary, Lord Robinson.

He attended Harrow and St John’s College Cambridge. After that, he studied law at Lincoln’s Inn, but was not called to the bar. During the Napoleonic Wars, he served part-time in the local Yeomanry.

In 1804, Robinson was elected to the seat of Carlow, an Irish pocket borough. Three years later, he was elected to Ripon, which was closer to his Yorkshire family home. He was appointed to the Admiralty board in 1810, and then served as Vice-President of the Board of Trade and Paymaster of the Forces in Lord Liverpool’s government.

It was Robinson who sponsored the Corn Laws to Parliament in 1815.  The laws were controversial, and a mob ransacked Robinson’s London house in revenge. In the chaos, a man was shot dead by one of Robinson’s servants. Robinson had been elsewhere at the time, and wept when recounting the events to Parliament, earning him the unkind nickname ‘Blubberer’.

In 1818, Robinson was promoted to Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade and Treasurer of the Navy. In 1823, he became Chancellor. Due to the generally beneficial economic climate, and because of an unexpected Austrian loan repayment, Robinson was able to abolish a large of number of old taxes and reduce tariffs. It was in this role that Robinson was most successful, earning the nickname ‘Prosperity Robinson’. However, towards the end of the period, the economy performed badly, and there was a run on a London bank in 1827.

Robinson was given a peerage in January 1827, becoming Viscount Goderich. A month later,  Liverpool resigned. Canning replaced him and he asked Goderich to become Leader of the House of Lords and War and Colonial Secretary. However, Canning died on 8 August 1827. George IV now asked Goderich to be Prime Minister. George IV believed that he could control Goderich and set limits on who he could appoint to his Cabinet.

Consequently, Goderich immediately struggled to put together a Cabinet. The Pittites/Tories were already divided between those who favoured Catholic emancipation and those opposed. Nevertheless, he put together a selection of moderates and began to make plans.

Goderich started to appear exhausted and was unable to give any kind of direction to the Cabinet. In December he proposed changes, balancing the Tory Marquess Wellesley with the Whig Lord Holland to strengthen the government, but George IV vetoed Lord Holland. Other Cabinet ministers were frustrated that Goderich seemed to give way so easily.

Goderich was popular amongst his fellow politician, who found him kind and honest. He was a hard worker and a reliable minister. But he was not driven by any deep convictions, and consequently was fairly indecisive. He was also thin skinned, taking political attacks personally, and they caused him a great deal of misery. Matters were made worse by the fact that Goderich’s wife was suffering from extreme depression after the birth of their second child in October.

In January 1828, George IV had had enough, and simply dismissed Goderich.

Goderich’s political career spanned another three decades, returning to Cabinet during the 1830s and 1840s as President of the Board of Trade and War and Colonial Secretary.

In 1814 Robinson married Lady Sarah Albinia Louisa Hobart. They had three children, but only one survived to adulthood.

Goderich died in 1859.