Private Cyril Charles Goodman
| Date of Birth | c. 1898 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 19 |
| Date of Death | 6 December 1917 |
| Service Number | 614085 |
| Military Service | 2nd Battalion London Regiment |
| Merton Address | 61 Devonshire Road, Merton |
| Local Memorial | Rutlish School, Merton |
Additional Information
Cyril was born in Putney c.1898, the son of Charles William and Agnes Louise Goodman. In 1901 he was living with his parents at 108 Broomwood Road, Clapham. His father, a First Grade Accounts Clerk at the Admiralty, died in 1910 at the age of 41. There are few details of Cyril’s teenage years. A memoir published by the Rutlish School, which he attended from 1911 to 1913, records that ‘by the time of the 1911 census Agnes was a patient In Croydon Union Infirmary’. The 1911 census entry for Cyril, meanwhile, shows that he was living with his uncle and aunt, Henry and Cecilia Hibbert and his three cousins, Cecilia (11) Henry (9) and Herbert (7) at 41 Huriwood Road, Merton. He was then aged 13.
It is assumed that after leaving school Cyril worked in the Civil Service as he enlisted with the Civil Service Rifles 15th Battalion London Regiment before being transferred to the 2/19th(County of London) Battalion (St Pancras). The battalion landed in Le Havre in June 1916 before moving to Salonica and then to Egypt. It arrived in Alexandria on 12th June 1917 and, after a period of training and acclimatisation in the Canal Zone, moved up to the front in July.
On 31 October the battalion moved on to Palestine with 180th Brigade where it was in divisional reserve for the Battle of Beersheba. However, Cyril stayed in Egypt where he died of disease in the 78 General Hospital in Alexandria. He was 19 years old.
Private Goodman is buried in the Hadra War Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria, Al Iskandariyah, Egypt Plot A.97. He is also remembered on a memorial at Rutlish School in Wimbledon.