Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Victory Medal awarded to Corporal W. H. Goodman, M.M., Rifle Brigade, late King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who was killed in action on the third day of the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, 2 August 1917

Victory Medal 1914-19 (S-27090 Cpl. W. H. Goodman. Rif. Brig.) extremely fine £50-£70

M.M. London Gazette 9 July 1917.

William Humphrey Goodman was born in Islington in 1888, the son of coach builder Alfred Goodman and his wife Amy. At 5ft 2.5 inches in stature and a plumber and fitter by trade, he attested for the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in London on 11 December 1915 and spent the Spring of 1916 training with ‘D’ Company of the 23rd Battalion in England - including a special course on the Lewis machine gun. He married Charlotte Shirley on 26 February 1916 at St. John the Evangelist Church, Finsbury Park, before embarking with the Rifle Brigade from Southampton to Havre on 26 October 1916.

Posted to the 13th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, Goodman was promoted Corporal on 18 July 1917 and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery on the Western Front. He was killed less than a month later on 2 August 1917, his widow receiving the decoration by post to 40 Compton Road, Winchmore Hill. She would also later receive his effects which consisted of a wallet, photograph and card, and a notebook, likely collected by a comrade from his body or held back in the British front line prior to going ‘over the top’.

Charlotte was awarded a widow’s pension of 15/ per week from 18 February 1918. She later remarried, her details given as Charlotte Hare (formerly Goodman), of 33 Hardwicke Road, Palmer’s Green. William Goodman is commemorated upon the Menin Gate Memorial.