John Arthur Godley, 1st Baron Kilbracken, GCB (17 June 1847 – 27 June 1932), was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and British civil servant and the longest serving, and probably the most influential, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India.^[1]

Arthur Godley was the only son of John Robert Godley, a colonial reformer, and Charlotte Godley, a letter-writer and community leader. From April 1850 to December 1852, he was with his parents in New Zealand; his father has become to be regarded as the founder of Canterbury.^[2][3] Godley Jr. was painted by Mary Townsend in 1851; the original is held by Canterbury Museum.^[4] He studied at Radley, Rugby, and Balliol College, Oxford (where he won the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse).

His first important role was acting as Assistant Private Secretary to William Ewart Gladstone, then Prime Minister, during the years 1872 to 1874 and called to Lincoln's Inn bar in 1876.^[1] He was elected a fellow of Hertford College, Oxford for the period 1874 to 1881. In 1880 Godley was appointed Commissioner for Inland Revenue, a position he held till 1882. Appointed Under-Secretary of State at the India Office in 1883, he remained there for 26 years, retiring in 1909. He was a member of the 'Royal Commission on Indian Finance and Currency' in 1913.^[1]

He was bestowed a GCB in the 1908 Birthday honours list,^[5] and on 8 December 1909 he was raised to the peerage as The Baron Kilbracken, of Killegar in the County of Leitrim.^[6]

His autobiography, Reminiscences of Lord Kilbracken, was published in 1931, the year before he died.^[7]

Lord Kilbracken was a first cousin of the classical scholar A. D. Godley.^[8] He was married to Sarah (Sarina) James daughter of 1st Baron Northbourne on 26 September 1871 until her death on 13 September 1921. The union bore 2 sons and three daughters.^[9] The barony was inherited by his eldest and only surviving son, Hugh.^[1]