Name
Sydney Herbert Goodman
1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/10/1918
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
911339
Royal Field Artillery
23rd Battery, 40th Brigade
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
AWOINGT BRITISH CEMETERY
II. B. 27.
France
Headstone Inscription
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Church Memorial, Apsley End,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
Not on the Ware memorials
Pre War
Sydney Herbert Goodman was born in 1890 in Ware, Hertfordshire, the son of Alfred and Sarah Goodman and one of seven children.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Westmill Road, Ware, where his father was a Solicitor's Clerk. By 1901 they had moved to Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was a clerk in the Paper Mill (John Dickinson & Co).
Sydney attended Apsley Boys school from about 1894 to September 1903, when he left school at the age of 13 and started work in the Book Department of John Dickinsons at Apsley Mills. He also became a member of Dickinsons Silver Band.
The family remained in Apsley End on the 1911 Census and were listed as living at Dollis Villa. Sydney was then working at John Dickinson & Co, Apsley Mills as a Bookbinder. He was also a member of Dickinson Silver Band (Brass Band).
His parents later lived at 20 Winifred Road, Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead. His mother died in 1924.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Watford and joined the Territorial Force and the Royal Field Artillery. Being a Territorial Force, it was expected that Sydney would have stayed in England but in late 1917 he was transferred to the 23rd Battery of the 40th Royal Field Artillery as a gunner and sent overseas.
During 1918 he saw action during the Somme Offensive, the Battle of the Lys, Second Battle of the Somme and the Battles of the Hindenburg Line. In late October he was involved in the Battle of the Selle, which, although successful, resulted in heavy casualties. Sydney was seriously wounded following German shelling of the waggon lines of his battery. Many horses and men were hit and he was taken to one of the Casualty Clearing Stations which were posted near the village Awoingt on the outskirts of Camrai and he is buried in Awoingt British Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs S A Goodman, 20 Winifred Road, Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN".
His mother received a war gratuity of £9 10s and pay owing of £13 5s 5d. she also received a pension of 8 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, www.dacorumheritge.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org.,www.hemelheroes.com
