No.8615, Private, Arthur GOODCHILD
Aged 24
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Arthur Goodchild was born in Isleham on 3rd March 1891 (Newmarket Q3-1891 3B:567) and baptised in Isleham on 26th June 1892. He was a son of William
and Hannah GOODCHILD (née HARVEY ).
1891 census...Aged 1 month, he was at The Pits, Isleham with his father William GOODCHILD [32] agricultural labourer; his mother Hannah [31]; sisters Caroline [9] and Minnie [3], and brother William [7]. They were all born in Isleham. 1901 census...Aged 10, he was still at The Pits with his parents (father now a turf digger/dealer), sisters Caroline and Minnie, brother William (turf digger/dealer) and four new sisters; Florrie [8], Hannah [6], Sarah E. [4] and Rose [3], all born in Isleham. 1911 census...Aged 20, a farm labourer, like his father and brother William, he was still at The Pits, Isleham with his widower father, brother William and sisters Hannah, Sarah and Rose plus new sister Maud M. [7] born in Isleham. His mother had borne 13 children but 4 had died, she had died in 1904.
The pension card has his father at The Pits still, but he died on 30-6-1920 and is replaced on the card by his sister Florrie GOODCHILD.
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Enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds in August 1914. Lt Col Murphy's "History of the Suffolk Regiment" informs us that the 1st Suffolks suffered a battering this day in the Ypres Salient. Intense bombardment started at dawn and a determined attack at 10 am as the Battle for Frezenberg Ridge began. High explosive, gas, mortars, machine gun fire, everything that could be used against them was used. All communication wires were cut for a distance of two miles behind the lines. Transportation ground to a halt, supply units having to dump their supplies as near as they could to the support trenches and hope for the best. The Colonel, Adjutant, most officers and the RSM had become casualties and still they hung on. Then the enemy made a breach on the right and before noon the battalion had been overwhelmed. Over 400 casualties that day, and when a fresh draft arrived from Felixstowe on the 9th, to meet them were the remnants, 2 junior officers, the Quarter Master and 27 other survivors. The 1st Suffolk suffered 93 killed and not one has an identified grave, all are named on the Menin Gate. |
photo; Commonwealth War Graves Commission
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