Category Archives: Other Regiments

Edward Gooch

Army, Berkshire Yeomanry, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Reading Blue Coat School, Reading University College, Somme

Edward Gooch
Private 40171
3rd  Battalion Worcestershire Regiment  formerly a
Sergeant in the Berkshire Yeomanry

 Division 27

Gooch E photo

 

Edward Gooch was the son of Arthur and Miriam Gooch, of 12, Stanley Grove, Reading. He was killed in action on 9th October 1916, aged 28.  He is commemorated upon the kerb stones of his parents grave in Reading Cemetery.  The grave number is 12671.  The Berkshire Family History Society classification is 27E31.

In the 1911 census his occupation is given as a Clerk at the Gas Works; he is living at home with his parents and two brothers. Miram Gooch had borne seven children.

The 3rd Worscesters were part of the 25th Division and in September 1916 moved to a position south of the River Ancre in the Somme battlefield.  After many small scale raids and operations, a major attack was made by the Division on 9 October. The condiditons on the ground were poor and although there was success in beating off German counter attacks before capturing their objectives it was in this action that Edward Gooch lost his life.

The CWGC site tells us that Edward Gooch was buried in Poiziers British Cemetery, Ovillers. grave identification Plot IV, Row T, 24.

Edwin William Arthur Golby

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments

Edwin William Arthur Golby
Private M2/034980
273rd Motor Transport Company, Army Service Corp

Division 71
Extension

Golby EWA photo Casualty Record Detail

Edwin William Arthur Golby  was the son of Mr Edwin and Mrs Rose Golby, of 63, Donnington Gardens, Reading.  In the 1911 census his father was recorded as a Coach Driver and Edwin as an apprentice carpenter. Edwin had an older and younger sister. He is commemorated on the family grave. Number 17928.   Berkshire Family History Society classification 72G16.  The wording on the kerbstone is ‘EDDIE ONLY SON, LOST AT SEA JANUARY 8TH 1916 AGED 21’. 

Edwin Golby was lost when the ship the S.S. Citta di Palermo, was mined.  The SS Citta Di Palermo, an Italian transport carrying Commonwealth troops. It was sunk off Brindisi, a port on the heel of Italy in the Adriatic, on 8 January 1916.  In rescuing survivors, two Royal Naval Otranto drifters were themselves mined and blown up. Edwin Golby is remembered on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton.  This memorial is to the officers and men of the forces of the Empire who fell in the Great War and whose graves are not known, especially those lost in home waters.

The full commemoration reads:

1914-1918 TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF 1855 OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE FORCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR AND HAVE NO OTHER GRAVE BUT THE SEA OR TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.

 1916 saw an increasing number of attacks on merchant ships right from the beginning of the year.  The USA was warned that its merchant ships would be treated as ‘belligerent’ by the German fleet and the British, in an effort to starve out Germany set in force a blockade.  The Battle of Jutland was fought at the end of May between the fleets of both navies.

Wilfred Douglas Goddard

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Somme, St Mary's Church Castle Street Memorial

Wilfred Douglas Goddard
Private 37980
“B” Company 8th Battalion Gloucestershire Regt.

Division 42

Goddard WD photo  CIMG2111

Wilfred Douglas Goddard was the youngest of six children; five boys and one girl. Two of his brothers assisted their father in the family butchery business, one brother was a mechanic according to the 1911 census.  Wilfred is commemorated on the family grave number 8918 of the Reading Cemetery.  His parents were James and Susannah Ellen Goddard of 10, Castle Street, Reading.  

At one stage Wilfred was reported as missing, see caption on picture, but he died of wounds on 2nd May 1918,  in Wevllghem Belgium and was buried at Harlebeke New British Cemetery XI. E.1 Wilfred Goddard was 20 years old.  The exact circumstances of how he received his injuries are not  known however, the Germans had begun their spring offensive and fighting was severe all along the front line. ‘Soldiers Died’ indicates that Wilfred had served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment as Private 33658.