Goode William Edward 1242

SAPPER WILLIAM EDWARD GOODE

1242 – 3rd Tunnelling Company / 3rd Army Transport Section

Born 19 August 1896 in Sydney, New South Wales, William was the son of William Henry Goode, Doctor of Medicine, and Margaret nee O’Connor.

He signed the Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ in Brisbane, Queensland on 1 September 1915.

William was 24 Years and 8 months of age and 5ft 11ins tall. He weighed 11 stone 12 pounds, had a ruddy complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He was found to be fit for active service and was appointed to the 15th Reinforcements to the 3rd Artillery Brigade on 18 December 1915 at The Warren, Marrickville, Sydney.

Unmarried and a Motor Driver by Trade, he named as his Next-of-Kin his mother Mrs. Margaret Goode of the Perpetual Trustee Company, 2 Spring Street, Sydney, New South Wales.

He was appointed a Motor Transport Driver on 20 February 1916 and transferred to the Australian Army Service Corps (Motor Transport), 3rd Division Supply Column. On the same day he was attached for duty to the 3rd Tunnelling Company. William embarked for the European theatre on Ulysses with the Australian Mining Corps.

At a civic parade in the Domain, Sydney on Saturday February 19, 1916, a large crowd of relations and friends of the departing Miners lined the four sides of the parade ground. Sixty police and 100 Garrison Military Police were on hand to keep the crowds within bounds. The scene was an inspiriting one. On the extreme right flank, facing the saluting base, were companies of the Rifle Club School; next came a detachment of the 4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, then the bands of the Light Horse, Liverpool Depot, and the Miners’ on the left, rank upon rank, the Miners’ Battalion.

Following the farewell parade in the Domain, Sydney, the Australian Mining Corps embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on 20 February 1916 on board HMAT A38 Ulysses.

The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company – 390; No.2 Company – 380; No.3 Company – 392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements.

Ulysses arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 22 February and the Miners were camped at Broadmeadows while additional stores and equipment were loaded onto Ulysses. Another parade was held at the Broadmeadows camp on March 1, the Miners’ Corps being inspected by the Governor-General, as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth military forces.

Departing Melbourne on 1 March, Ulysses sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where a further 53 members of the Corps were embarked. The ship hit a reef when leaving Fremantle harbour, stripping the plates for 40 feet and, although there was a gap in the outside plate, the inner bilge plates were not punctured. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’. The Miners were off-loaded and sent to the Blackboy Hill Camp where further training was conducted. After a delay of about a month for repairs, The Mining Corps sailed for the European Theatre on 1 April 1916.

The ship arrived at Suez, Egypt on 22 April, departing for Port Said the next day; then on to Alexandria. The Captain of the ship was reluctant to take Ulysses out of the Suez Canal because he felt the weight of the ship made it impossible to manoeuvre in the situation of a submarine attack. The Mining Corps was transhipped to B1 Ansonia for the final legs to Marseilles, France via Valetta, Malta. Arriving at Marseilles on 5 May, most of the men entrained for Hazebrouck where they arrived to set up their first camp on 8 May 1916.

A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed. The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), better known as the ‘Alphabetical Company’.

William was admitted to the 130th Field Ambulance on 31 May 1916 suffering Mumps. He was transferred to No.7 General Hospital at St. Omer on 1 June, rejoining his unit on 23 June.

He was officially transferred to the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company on 18 December 1916.

Hospitalised between 5 and 14 June 1917 at 4th Stationary Hospital at Argues with post-nasal catarrh.

While on leave in England he was admitted to the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital at Southall with tonsillitis. Discharged on 13 November 1917 he was granted leave until 18 December, returning to France and re-joining his unit on 20 December. He was due for the award of Blue Chevrons on 20 February 1918.

William was taken on strength on No.3 Australian Motor Transport Company (AMT Coy) on 13 March 1918 but remained detached to the 3rd Tunnelling Company.

On 21 October 1918 at Aix Noulette, Calais, William married Josephine Eulalie Becquet, the 16-year-old spinster daughter of Geo. Alberie Becquet, Agent of Commerce. A second hand-written copy of the marriage certificate records her as Josephine Eulalie Domitil Becquet, a refugee born at Donai. The marriage was performed by Maire d’Aix Noulette.

Major Alexander Sanderson, O.C., 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company wrote on 28 January 1919:

“Since his arrival in France, the abovenamed married a French subject. He is anxious that when his turn for repatriation comes he will be granted special leave to take his wife and child to U.K. so that they may leave England for Australia on the same ship.

His wife is only 17 years of age and has a young child.

I recommend that his application be granted.”

William returned to the 3rd AMT Coy on 17 April 1919 and marched out for demobilisation on 5 May 1919. He returned to Australia with his wife and child on board Indarra which left London 12 July 1919. The family disembarked in Sydney on 9 September 1919 and William was discharged from the A.I.F. on 2 November 1919.

On 13 January 1933 the Secretary of the British Legion, Nice – Monaco, wrote to the Commandant, Victoria Barracks, Brisbane:

“Dear Sir,

would you pl forward medals to above address, belonging to Lance-Corporal W.E. Goode, reg. No. 1242, 3rd Tunnellers, A.I.F.

The above having left Australia before they were issued & now resides here.”

Williams’ British War Medal and Victory Medal were issued on 28 February 1933.

From his Port Macquarie address in August 1935, William requested a replacement copy of his Discharge Certificate stating in a Statutory Declaration: “My discharge was lost in Nouex-les-Mines, Pas-de-Calais (France) by me after my return to that country in 1-1-1922. I think it was destroyed with some waste papers by my self.”

The 1936 Electoral Roll Records:

William Edward Goode – Horton Street, Port Macquarie – motor driver

In 1943:

William Edward Goode – c/o Mrs Brown, William Street, Port Macquarie – soldier

William served in the 2nd A.I.F. during World War 2 from 26 November 1940 to 30 October 1944. N100775 Private William Edward Goode was a member of 58 Dental Unit. Living Port Macquarie, New South Wales, he enlisted at Paddington in Sydney, again naming his mother Margaret Goode as his Next-of-Kin.

His WW1 military records were forwarded to the Repatriation Commission, Sydney, in September 1944.

In 1949 William was a council employee living at Acroyd Street, Port Macquarie. The 1954 and 1958 Electoral Rolls record him as a Council Employee living at Gore Street, Port Macquarie.

William Edward Goode died at Port Macquarie, New South Wales on 30 May 1960 and is buried at Innes Gardens Memorial Park, New South Wales.

Siblings:

Ursula b. 1891

Cedric F b. 1900

[WW2 Q186432 Sergeant Cedric Fraser Goode, 15 Garrison Battalion, b. 28 June 1900, 2 January 1940 to 9 May 1943, living and enlisted in Townsville, Queensland, NOK Kate Goode]