Arthur Godfrey GOODSON

Arthur Goodson was born on 12 June 1886 in Leeds, England. His parents were James and Elizabeth Goodson. He was on the staff of Scotch College from 1913 to 1915. His obituary in the 1916 The Scotch Collegian says that ‘Mr. Goodson’s quiet, unassuming manner won for him the respect of all the boys with whom he came into contact. He was extremely modest in speaking about his own achievements. His retiring disposition gained for him a quiet popularity among the boys of his classes at Scotch’.

Arthur was a Science master at Scotch when he enlisted on 14 June 1915 in Melbourne. He served in the 24th Battalion with the rank of Lieutenant.

Arthur died on 3 August 1916 at Pozieres, France. He was 30 years of age.

Service record

Arthur Goodson was 5 feet 11 inches tall. Before coming to Australia he had served for five years in the 8th Battalion (Leeds Rifles) of the West Yorkshire Regiment in the Territorial Force. For four of those years he had been a Sergeant. He had also been an outstanding athlete, captaining the Leeds University football (soccer) team and gaining a university blue for athletics. In 1915 he was allotted to the reinforcements for the 24th Battalion. He was made a Sergeant within a month of enlistment, and after passing the relevant examination in July 1915 became a 2nd Lieutenant in November 1915. He was still a reinforcement when he arrived in Marseille on 27 March 1916.

He joined the 24th Battalion in France on 2 June 1916. Just two months later he was at Pozieres, arguably Australia’s worst military ordeal.The 24th Battalion history says that while the unit was officially resting at Sausage Valley in August, it had to send out fatigue parties, carrying supplies and rations to front-line units and stretcher-bearing squads. It was dangerous work, and one of those killed at that duty was Lieutenant Goodson.

Goodson’s service record contains correspondence mentioning his widow Ada’s plans to travel to England to meet Arthur’s parents in 1916. Later correspondence dated 1922 was sent to Ada – still Mrs A.G. Goodson – in England. She remarried in Australia in 1924.

Arthur Goodson is buried in the Pozieres British Cemetery, France.

Photographs and Documents:

With Robert Wilson

A wonderful photograph of 2nd Lieutenant Goodson in camp in Australia, probably at Broadmeadows, in late 1915

Sources:

1. Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour
2. Harvey, W.J., The red and white diamond: authorised history of the Twenty-Fourth Battalion A.I.F., A. McCubbin, Melbourne, 1920
3. Mishura Scotch Database
4. National Archives of Australia – B2455, GOODSON A G
5. Scotch Collegian 1916
6. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=114093