Goode was born in Twickenham, Middlesex, and attended Oakham School and Worcester College, Oxford.

[3] Goode joined the Malayan Civil Service in 1931, studying law in his spare time.

From 1936 to 1939 he served as district officer, Raub, and thereafter as assistant financial secretary of Singapore in 1939.

After the colony's capitulation in 1942, he was taken prisoner by the Japanese and sent to work in Siam on the Burma Railway from 1943 to 1945.

[4] In 1959, as part of transitional arrangements, he was made Yang di-Pertuan Negara of the State of Singapore from June to December, and United Kingdom Commissioner.