Name
George Richard (Dick) Goodege
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/11/1915
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
TF/1651
Middlesex Regiment
1st/9th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BASRA MEMORIAL
Panel 30 and 64.
Iraq
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Sunnyside Memorial, Berkhamsted
Pre War
George Richard Goodege was born in 1889 at Northchurch, nr Berkhamsted, Herts, the son of George and Ann Goodege, and baptised on 17 March 1889 at Berkhamsted.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at George Street, Northchurch where his mother was listed as head of the household and her occupation was given as washing and charing. Brothers Ernest and Albert were working and George Richard was then named as Richard. His father was a lodger at the home of Edward and Elizabeth Wildman at Northolt Road, Harrow, Middx and working as a general labourer.
In 1901, 12-year-old George was living with his mother and brother Frank at 90 George Street, Northchurch. Frank was a compositor printer and his mother a laundress. His father was lodging at the home of Edward and Sarah Smith at nearby Potten End, nr Berkhamsted.
His mother died in 1904 and by the 1911 Census, George had moved to 3 Florence Villas, Cecil Road, Wealdstone, Middx and was a boarder at the home of Ada Irving and her two young sons. George was working as a lithographer at a printing works.
He was reported as being highly respected in Berkhamsted and a prominent football player at Berkhamsted Sunnyside Football Club.
His father died in early 1913.
Wartime Service
George enlisted in Willesden, Middlesex at the outbreak of war and served with the Duke of Cambridge's own (Middlesex) Regiment, 1st/9th TF Battalion under reg. no. 1651. He was embodied for service on 12 August 1914 and initially travelled to India and arrived in Amarah, Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) on 28 August 1915.
He was killed in action on 22 November 1915 in Mesopotamia, Persian Gulf. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Basra Memorial, Iraq.
It was reported that news of his death reached home on Christmas Day.
Additional Information
His parents both having died he gave his brother Albert as next of kin.
His brother Albert received a war gratuity of £5. Pay owing was divided between his brothers Albert, Arthur, Frank and sisters Ellen, Alice, Edith and Harriet.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
