This artist was the son of James Goldsworthy, a naval officer. He described himself as a 24-year-old artist of Frances Street, Truro, when he married Avis Scantlebury at Kenwyn Church on 5 September 1840. He was described as an artist in the 1841 census, which found him at Stoke Damerel near Devonport, and in the 1851 census when he was a visitor at Place House on the Roseland peninsula. 

Goldsworthy died in 1856 and was buried in Falmouth. The death notice described him as 'well known as a portrait painter in the county'.