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Walter Goodman (1891-1939)


Lincolnshire man served with Durham Light Infantry and settled in West Hartlepool after the war


Walter Goodman was born as Walter Malcolm Ross in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in November 1891. As a child, he moved with his mother to Aston, Birmingham, where she got remarried to William Goodman and had two more children.

Walter went to school and became a french polisher, but on 23rd June 1910 he joined the army under the name of Walter Goodman, being numbered 10955. He expressed a preference for the Durham Light Infantry and was then posted to the 2nd DLI, which was stationed at Fermoy, Ireland, at that time. He moved with the battalion to Colchester a bit later and was finally transferred to the 1st Battalion DLI.

With this battalion Walter served in India. He embarked in Southampton on the 29th of October 1912 and arrived at Karachi on the 10th of November. He spent the war in this front and during that time, according to his military records, he accepted temporary promotions but declined them on a permanent basis. In any case, he achieved the rank of Lance Corporal and acted later as a Corporal.

He also participated on the Third Afghan War (in May and June 1919) and went back to England after its end, where he spent the rest of his army career in the reserve, stationed at Newcastle and Ponteland as number 4435344.

His character during his service was described as “exemplary”.

Walter finally left the army in June 1921. He then moved to West Hartlepool, County Durham, probably as a result of the work opportunities there. Working as a shipyard labourer, he lived as a boarder in different houses, including the home of one Pickering Calvert, a baker. Through this family he met his wife, Isabella Almond. They got married in Hartlepool in November of that year and had three children.

But Walter had contracted tuberculosis during his service in India, becoming very ill. After a short time at a sanatorium he died of this illness in December 1939.

His two sons served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

For more information about Walter Goodman on the Hartlepool Then and Now website:
http://www.hhtandn.org/notes/640/biographies-of-walter-and-isabella-ross-nee-almond

Civil Parish: West Hartlepool

Birth date: 18-Nov-1891

Death date: 28-Nov-1939

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 84 Ravenspurn Street, Grimsby, Lincolnshire (birth place)
125 Park Lane, Aston, Birmingham (1910)
Hyderabad Barracks, Military Road & Mersea Road, Colchester, Essex. DLI depot (1911 census)
Boarder in different houses in West Hartlepool: 50 Elwick Road, 42 Eden Street and then at 25 Park Street (1921)
21 Penzance Street, West Hartlepool (address after getting married)

Organisation membership: 2nd and 1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry

Employment: French polisher (before joining the army)
Shipyard labourer (after the war, 1921)

Family: Wife: Isabella (nee Almond), married on the 12th of November, 1921
Offspring: Walter Edmund, Kenneth Charles, Catherine Isabel
Father: Henry Malcolm Montague Ross
Mother: Hannah Rebecca, “Annie” (nee Rack)
Stepfather: William Goodman
Half siblings: William, James

Military service:

Private/ Lance Corporal/ Acting Corporal
Regimental number: 10955, later 4435344
2nd and 1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
1915 Star
India General Service Medal with “Afghanistan” bar

Gender: Male

Contributed by John Sheen | Durham at War Volunteer