Goodacre, Hugh (d. 1553), Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh, graduated BA (1529), MA (1532), and B.Th. (1552), from Oxford University, where he was recorded as a fellow of Brasenose College in 1530. He became chaplain to Princess Elizabeth, who in 1548 recommended him to Protector Somerset for a licence to preach, saying that she had long known him and could vouch not only for his personal qualities but also for his learning and knowledge of the scriptures. He became vicar of Shalfleet, Isle of Wight, in 1550 and later became chaplain to John Ponet, bishop of Winchester. In 1552 the archbishop of Armagh, George Dowdall (qv), fled to the Continent rather than accept the Edwardian religious reforms, leading the government to search among the clergy in England for a reliably protestant candidate to fill this vacancy. However, there were few takers due to the poverty and danger associated with Irish ecclesiastical office: Goodacre was Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's fifth choice, being appointed archbishop of Armagh by letter under the privy seal on 28 October 1552. He arrived in Dublin in late January 1553, where he was consecrated at Christ Church cathedral on 25 March, together with another Englishman, John Bale (qv), who took up the see of Ossory. On Bale's insistence they were consecrated according to the pared-down rites of the Edwardian ordinal.
In the event, he died in Dublin on 1 May 1553, never having set foot in his diocese, and was buried in St Patrick's cathedral. Unable to speak Irish and without local connections, he would have struggled to make an impression in a diocese that included powerful Gaelic opponents of both government rule and reformed religion. Bale, a man given to extreme opinions, described Goodacre as an outstanding preacher, praising him for his sincerity and integrity, and alleged that he had been poisoned by a monk while visiting the house of a catholic lord.