Goldney studied at Exeter College, Oxford[1] and qualified as a barrister of the Inner Temple.
[2] He was appointed as a Royal Commissioner for the Norwich Election Enquiry of 1875 to investigate alleged corruption,[3] and the following year, Recorder of Helstone.
[6] He also held the rank of Major in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry.
[2] He was an active Freemason[7] and was also appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in July 1902[8] and a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 1904 New Year Honours.
[9] On his death in 1925 the baronetcy passed to his younger brother Frederick.