The wooden panel in the reception area of the Richard Hoggart Main building of Goldsmiths ‘They Died For Freedom and Honour’ commemorates staff and students killed during the Great War of 1914-18.

The University has no memorial with those named as having been killed during the Second World War, who are believed to number about fifty.

The Goldsmiths History Project is researching and intending to publish an online commemoration to remedy this omission.

The original panel commissioned and unveiled in 1920 was specifically for those killed in World War One and used to have a bronze wreath which was set behind a bronze statuette featuring St George killing the Dragon.

The bronze statuette was modelled by the artist and sculptor John Skeaping (1901-1980) who was the first husband of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth and became professor of sculpture at the Royal College Art between 1953 and 1959.

The wooden panel was designed by Amor Fenn, the design lecturer and later a headmaster of the Art School of Goldsmiths’ College .

The monument and its bronze accompaniments graced the College’s dining hall up until the outbreak of  World War Two in 1939.

After the resurrection of the College following all of the blitz bombing and fires of the 1939-45 conflict, the memorial was repurposed.

The wreath and St George and the dragon decorations were removed. ‘To the memory of those of the Goldsmiths College who died in the Great European War 1914-1919’ would be replaced with ‘To the memory of  those of Goldsmiths College who died in the two wars 1914-1918 1939-45.’

This posting seeks to ensure those who who died and were killed during active service between 1914-1919 are more than just names carved in wood.

As with the special research undertaken and written about the New Cross Road V2 tragedy of 25th November 1944, the lives of these individuals, their family heritage, and their contribution to human society are to be given more space with the open ended invitation to descendants to contribute any images and information to enhance their biographical profiles.

During the First World War nearly 100 students in the Training Department of Goldsmiths’ College, University of London enlisted before completing their courses.

About 600 Old ‘Smiths were known to be on active service throughout the war. Decorations included 1 D.S.O., 11 Military Crosses, 13 Military Medals, 5 D.C.M.s, 2 Croix de Guerres, and 10 Mentioned in Despatches.

Two members of the Training Department teaching staff, Captain W. Loring and Lieut. W. T. Young, one teacher in the Art School, Leading Seaman S. Dadd, one member of the office staff, W.A. Jolly, 92 Training Department students and 11 from the Evening and Art Department were killed.

Where the information was available at the time of carving, the wooden panel provided a name, year reference to when they were at Goldsmiths as students, and the regiment and armed service they were enlisted with.

This history is based on humanitarian imperatives with the academic discipline of placing the information researched and documents quoted from in terms of their cultural context.

Detailed reading soon elucidates the shocking fact that many of the casualties have no known grave. They are only names carved on memorials all around the world.

This means their bodies were either destroyed or so badly damaged by the modern munitions of war, they could not be and were not identified.   

It was the custom for British service people to be buried or commemorated where they died and there was no policy of repatriation.

Every death is associated with profound grieving that moves through generations and in respect of many families still resonates today.

To provide just one example, Edwin and Harriett Brown of 14 Haggard Road Twickenham had two sons – Benjamin William and Walter James – who both studied and trained to be teachers at Goldsmiths’ College and who were both killed while on active service during the Great War conflict.

These facts offer an emotional and humanitarian dimension which provide a powerful and meaningful history beyond the elegant carving of their names on the memorial.

The vast majority of fatal casualties were professional teachers trained at Goldsmiths’ College who went to war and did not come back.

It will become apparent from the developing detailed profiles that unlike World War One memorial lists for Oxford and Cambridge University Colleges, most of the Goldsmiths’ College alumni were serving in what is known as ‘The Other Ranks’ or ‘ORs.’   

They were privates or non-commissioned officers such as corporals and sergeants.

They were not officers though certainly their education and professional leadership qualities qualified them. This is most likely a manifestation of the class system in British society at the time.

The commissioning of ‘officers and gentleman’ was biased in favour of the Public Schools such as Eton, Marlborough, Rugby, Wellington etc. (in Britain actually high profile private schools).

Goldsmiths’ College was established primarily to recruit, train and increase the number of qualified teachers for the state education sector; mainly elementary schools teaching pupils up to the age of 13.

The 1902 Education Act meant that local authorities were substantially taking over the role of  funding, running and managing schools in towns, cities and rural areas.

Most of the Goldsmiths’ College students for the ‘Training Department’ were drawn from the working and lower middle classes. 

They were being sponsored by County Councils who needed qualified teachers for the schools they were now opening and running.

Many had been ‘pupil teachers’ effectively working as assistant schoolteachers and being paid between the ages of 13 and 18 because of their academic prowess. Consequently, it will be apparent that mature and well-educated young men graduating from Goldsmiths’ College served in the armed forces in the lower ranks, and this even included a Head Teacher of a school in the Midlands.

In the early years of Goldsmiths’ College, and this included those who served and lived through the First World War, many students with working-class backgrounds had to be given special dental and optical treatment because of their poor health.

The College matron and doctor also observed the effects of malnutrition from their childhood.

It will also be apparent that Goldsmiths’ College maintained records of the war service of their men students only.

They did not do so for their women students; some of whom it can be assumed volunteered for the military nursing services.

It is also possible that Goldsmiths women alumni could have been working in munitions, intelligence and many associated war-related employment fields.

There is no evidence that any Goldsmiths’ College women students died as a direct result of the First World War, but the possibility cannot be excluded.

The Goldsmiths’ College Old Students Association, however, did pay tribute to alumni Dora Emma Gardiner who qualified as a teacher having completed the two year course between 1907 and 1909.

By 1911 she was working as a Teacher Matron in the Walker Memorial Home Orphanage in Chepstow Monmouthshire.

Dora was born in Richmond, Surrey 1st April 1888 and was the daughter of a solicitor.

Dora had a distinguished service in Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Corps working in hospitals on the Western Front during the First World War.

As a nursing Sister she had the equivalent rank of Lieutenant and in 1916-17 was stationed at the Anglo-French Hospital, Chateau D’Annel, Longueil D’Annel, Oise, in France which provided care and treatment to soldiers with acute battlefield wounds and injuries.

Dora received the British War Medal, Victory Medal and Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Badge and would continue her nursing career for the rest of her life.

She passed away in 1967 at the age of 78.

There was a First World War Blitz in London and other parts of Britain from Zeppelins and the first Gotha long-range bombers though the casualties were less than two thousand.

The final death toll for the war reached 1,413, according to official statistics published in January 1919.

It is not widely known that by the autumn of 1917, 86 London Underground stations had been made available as public shelters. At one time the number of civilians taking shelter in the Tube reached a peak of 300,000.

There is certainly one dramatic account of a German Zeppelin dropping low over the playing fields behind the Goldsmiths main building and woman Vice-President Caroline Graveson shouting to her students gathering to marvel at the sight to take cover.

The Goldsmiths’ College grounds were allocated for allotment and market gardening purposes and there is evidence that Goldsmiths women students did form and participate in a Great War Land Army group.

Kathleen Porter did teacher training at Goldsmiths’ College between 1917 and 1919 and kept a scrapbook with photographs of her time there. She and her family donated it to the University’s Special Collections.

It contains a remarkable image of women students residing at Clyde Hostel in Lewisham and how they prepared for air-raid nights in the basement of the building between 1917-18.

Kathleen annotated this photograph with the words: ‘Air Raid! Take Cover!! “Oh memories that bless and burn.” Basement nights! Shrapnel shrieks!! Impromptu Concerts!!! Somnolent snores amid sonorous sound!!!! Hot Tom and Mary Biscuits! Crackers and curls!! Bursting bombs and language that just missed being Lurid!!!!!!!!!!! All Clear.’

It was inevitable that there would be more women students at Goldsmiths during the Great War years. Student hostels previously provided for men would be occupied by women. This was the case with Grove Hostel in Lewisham.

There is some poignancy in the image of ‘Juniors’ and ‘Seniors’ or first and second year women students, below at Grove Hostel in 1917. Some of them appear to be wearing what can be identified as ‘Sweetheart brooches.’

These could include miniature replicas of the badges of military regiments, naval units, the Royal Flying Corps and the RAF. They were called sweetheart brooches because they were often given as romantic keepsakes by members of the armed forces to their wives, sisters and girlfriends before they left for the front.  

They were received as gifts, love tokens or symbols to display the message that a relative and loved one was ‘doing their bit.’  They were also worn as badges and symbols of mourning. 

Detailed army records for all of the Goldsmiths’ College casualties are not available for historical research because most were destroyed when a government building in Walworth was bombed and caught fire during the Second World War Blitz of 1940.

However, some have survived and the paperwork can be most poignant when, for example, it reveals a grieving mother only realised that her son was entitled to the 1914-15 star which she receives in 1947 after writing to the War Office.

On another occasion the Colonel of a Lancashire Regiment in Preston writes a letter of apology to a grieving father because they had inadvertently sent the family the belongings and effects of another dead soldier by mistake.

It is not clear if they ever located those belonging to the Goldsmiths alumni who had fallen in battle.

[This posting is work in progress and each entry will be developed and added to with more research and the contribution of information by families and relatives.]

One of the challenges in the research is that early records of male students in the teacher Training Department have not survived and no records of enrolment in the Art School were archived.

The custom of the time for people to be addressed by the initials of their forenames limits effective triangulation for identification.

Consequently, the identities of I Spencer 1912-13, W Pearson 1910-12, and G S Jones 1911-13 are still being researched; largely because there were multiple casualties for these names and initials during the First World War.

Those keeping records at the time were as prone to human error as people are today.

One Goldsmiths’ College student was recorded and commemorated as having been killed in action when this certainly was not the case. Lieutenant Kingsley Fox Veasey married, became a head teacher and lived for 77 years until 1967. 

Where there are student records surviving, the information can be prosaic and intriguing.

Data protection law nowadays would not allow historians of one hundred years or more into the future to learn that a ‘War Hero’ was poor at maths or history when passing their first year exams. 

Where will future historians ever learn that a student teacher from Leicestershire, far from home in the world of 1912 to 1914, had boarded with a Mrs Packham in Brockley during his time studying at New Cross? 

All this information was written down in copper-plated hand and fountain pen in a large cloth-bound book.

We are able to see the house as it is today. A three storey Victorian terrace and really not looking that much different on the outside to what it was like 112 years ago.

We can even determine that the Goldsmiths’ College student, Arthur Emmerson, who would die in 1917 as an artillery plane spotter for the Royal Flying Corps when his rickety single engined biplane made of string, wire and wood was shot down on the Western Front in France, had been looked after by Mrs Harriet Packham.

She was 49 years old and married to Mr George D’Arey Packham who was a head porter at the Post Office.

Arthur was staying with a large family, for the Packhams had five daughters.

There was 25 year old Florence who was working as a telephonist at the Post Office, 20 year old Gladys who did not appear to be in work at the time of the 1911 census, and 18 year old Kathleen D’Arey who was working as a shop assistant.

Winifred Charlotte D’Arey Packham was 14 years old and still at school, which means she must have been good at her studies, and Dorothy D’Arey Packham who was 11 and also still at school.

The Packham family must have been so sad and grieving in their own way if and when they had heard of the death of the young man who had been staying with them in one of the rooms of 29 Endwell Road in 1914.

He was there on 11th February 1914 because that was when the College clerk had checked the accommodation arrangements and term-time address. 

Perhaps we can surmise that the board and lodgings provided to Goldsmiths’ College students was one of the ways the Packham family made ends meet, or perhaps contributed to paying off the mortgage on the house. 

This is the minutiae of social history and a humanitarian history which brings to life and makes tangible the lives of those Goldsmiths’ College staff and students from that time who had been teaching and learning in the same buildings and grounds used today. 

Training Department

F. Andrews 1909-1911 14th County London.

Sergeant Frank Andrews served in the 10th Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment).

He died from wounds while on active service in Belgium on 7th May 1917 and is buried and commemorated in the Dickebusch New Military Cemetery in West Flanders in Belgium in the plot BB. 23.

Frank was the son of John Andrews, a retired draughtsman in HM Dockyard, of 17 Waterloo Road, Gillingham, Kent.

He was the youngest of eight children. He left behind a widow, Hilda Evelyn Andrews, who was living at number 393 Canterbury Road, Gillingham, Kent, next door to the first school Frank went to as a young child.

He was 24 years old when he died. He married Hilda (née Perkins) in 1915 while on leave.

His family would posthumously receive his British War and Victory campaign medals for his service in France. Frank was working as a schoolmaster when he volunteered on 16th September 1914.

The personal inscription on his Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstone is from the poem ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon: ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’

Frank Andrews was born 22nd August 1890 and joined Goldsmiths’ College for the two year teacher’s certificate course on 22nd September 1909.

Frank was brilliant at maths and won a scholarship to the Sir Joseph Williams’ Mathematical Secondary School in Rochester from the Elementary Council School in Byron Road, Gillingham.

He was so distinguished in Maths and History in 1907 at the age of 16 he was appointed a pupil teacher at his school and paid by Kent County Council and then funded for his studies and further teacher training at Goldsmiths’ College.

He qualified in the London Matriculation examination in June 1909.

He was living at 33 Marsala Road Lewisham during his studies.

He passed all subjects at the end of the first and second years and was recognised a certificated teacher by the Board of Education in September 1911.

He was immediately appointed a schoolmaster at Richmond Road Council School in Gillingham one month later.

The site of the Richmond Road school is now occupied by the purpose built Burnt Oak Primary School.

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A E Bailey 1912-1914 6th South Staffordshires.

 

Serjeant Arthur Eric Bailey was serving in the 1st/6th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment when he was killed on active service in France on 29th March 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in the Ecoivres Military Cemetery in Mont-St. Eloi in the Pas de Calais region of France in the plot I.C.13.

He was 23 years old.

The personal inscription on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone reads ‘Safe Home.’

Arthur Eric Bailey was born in Madeley, Shropshire on 26th November 1892.

He was the son of grocer’s assistant John W.G. Bailey and Sarah Jane Bailey (née Smith) who were living at 16 High Street, Dawley, Shropshire at the time of his death.

When the 1901 census was taken Arthur was studying at the Melins Lee Church of England National School in Lawley and was living with his parents and three brothers and two sisters. 

He went onto the Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire for his secondary education.

He passed his Cambridge Senior Local Examination in December 1911 to gain entrance for training as a certificated school teacher at Goldsmiths’ College which he began on 18th September 1912.

During his time at Goldsmiths he resided at the Clyde House Hostel.

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He passed his first year examinations in July 1913 and finals in July 1914 in ‘Division Two’ and was recognised as a certificated teacher by the Board of Education 1st August 1914.

It is not clear if he had any chance to teach in the classroom before volunteering for the British Army at the outbreak of the First World War.

His family would receive the following campaign medals following his death: The 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

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J R Baker 1906-1908   London Regiment 1st/23rd Bn. 

Private James Robert Baker was 30 years old when he was killed on the Western Front in France on 23rd March 1918. 

The regimental designation space on the memorial seems to have been chiselled out; perhaps because the first entry had been incorrct. 

He was an infantryman serving in the 23rd County of London battalion, and his body was never recovered or identified for burial but his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial at Bay 9/10.

James had been born in Walworth in 1887 and completed the two year teacher training course at Goldsmiths’ College in 1908.

He was recognised as a certificated teacher by the Board of Education in the late summer of that year.

He would be employed by London County Council in the years that followed as a schoolmaster in elementary schools.

At the time of the 1911 Census he was a boarder at 5 Ordnance Road in St John’s Wood, London. [Ordnance Road’s name has been changed to Ordnance Hill].

It was there that he met his future wife Margaret Banks who was dress-maker.

Her father Albert was the carpenter employed by Lord’s Cricket ground.  James was 23 at the time. Margaret was 16. They would marry in 1916 while he was on leave as he had enlisted on 20th November 1915.

At one point he was appointed Lance Corporal. Sadly, Margaret would receive telegrams reporting that James was missing and presumed killed at the same address in the spring of 1918.

Margaret would receive a war widow’s pension and her late husband’s campaign War and Victory medals which were posthumously awarded to him.

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A H Barlow 1905-1907 Sherwood Foresters.

29 year old Lance-Corporal Arthur Haslam Barlow served in the 9th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment of the Sherwood Foresters in the Gallipoli campaign and like the Warden of Goldsmiths’ College, Captain William Loring, would not survive to return home.

Having graduated as a certificated teacher recognised by the Board of Education in 1907, his successful career as a schoolmaster was interrupted by the outbreak of the Great War.

He died on 21st August 1915 and he is commemorated at the Helles Memorial in Turkey with his name carved into the stone on Panel 151 to 153.

Arthur had the Service Number 12411 while in the 9th Battalion of the famous Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment).

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry states that he was the son of  Mr. George H. and Mrs. Elizabeth Barlow, of Sycamore House, Staveley, Chesterfield. George was the superintendent of a coal and iron works. 

Arthur was one of Goldsmiths’ College’s first teacher training students and excelled at tennis. It is more than likely he features in the photograph below of the College’s tennis team for the years 1905-7.

Arthur’s death was the subject of at least two obituaries in local and regional newspapers in 1915.  Under the headline ‘Staveley Tennis Player‘ the Sheffield Daily Telegraph reported on 9th September: 

‘News has been received of the death of Lance-Corporal Arthur Barlow, son of Mr G. H. Barlow Chesterfield Road, Staveley. Lance-Corporal Barlow joined the 9th Sherwoods soon after the war broke out, and went out nearly two months ago. He was formerly engaged in the scholastic profession at Staveley and later near Derby. On Sunday the flag on the church tower was at half-mast, and the Rector (Canon Molineux) referred to the sad losses Staveley had recently experienced. At the conclusion of the service the organist, Mr J.H. Gallagher, played the “Dead March.” Deceased took an active part in the initiation of the Staveley Tennis Club, and during his secretaryship the club had perhaps its most successful seasons.’

The Derbyshire Times published an obituary and included a photograph of Arthur in uniform:

‘Another Staveley Loss.

A true note of regret and sympathy at the death of Lance-Corporal Arthur Haslam Barlow was manifested by all sections of the community in Staveley when the sad news became known on Friday. The information first came to hand in the village in a letter written home from the Dardanelles by a son of Mr G. K Birley, a member of the Staveley Parish Council. A wire was dispatched to official quarters for confirmation of the news, and this, unhappily, was practically at once furnished.

Lance-Corpl. A. H. Barlow having been killed in action in the Dardanelles on August 22nd. He was in “A” Company of the 9th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters, having joined at the outbreak of war, and sailed for active service on July 1st.

“Arthur” Barlow was the elder son of Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Barlow. He was 29 years of age, very popular and known to almost everyone in the parish, while his father, Mr. G. H. Barlow is churchwarden at St John’s Church, and the genial secretary to the Markham Club and Institute. Lance-Corpl. Barlow was thorough in all he undertook, coolness of manner, courageous at heart, and brightness of disposition being his chief characteristics. He was never afraid of danger, and some of his comrades have stated that he was quite cool when at his work with the machine-gun in the danger zone- a sentiment that can be easily understood by those who knew the man.

When on his final leave in June, hearing that Mr Haddock was in need of help at the Council School, he drilled some of the lads, who were proud at having a soldier to drill them. He was educated at Barrow Hill, Staveley, and Colyton Grammar School, Devonshire. He decided to take up the scholastic profession, trained at Goldsmiths’ College, London, and was afterwards an assistant-master at Waltham Cross, and subsequently became headmaster of a school near Derby. He was a keen athlete and took an active part in the initiation of the Staveley Tennis Club, which perhaps experienced its most successful season under his secretaryship.

A younger brother of the deceased is now in training at Hungerford.

On Sunday the flag at the Parish Church tower was lowered to half mast, and the Rector (Cannon Molineux) in the course of his sermon in the morning referred in appropriate words to the losses Staveley had recently suffered.’

Arthur’s sisters Edith and Winifred also entered the teaching profession and were assistant school-masters by the time of his appointment as a head teacher in 1911. 

His family would receive Arthur’s three First World War medals- the 1914-15 Star, and British War and Victory medals.

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H Baxendale 1913-1915. London Regiment. 

Lance Corporal Herbert Baxendale had the service number 1478 during his service with the 20th Battalion London Regiment.

He died on 17th September 1916 and he is buried and commemorated at the Dernancourt Communal Cemetery extension in France at plot II. C. 34.

He was 24 years old having been born in Bolton, Lancashire 26th November 1891. His parents, William and Mary had him baptised in All Souls Church Bolton on 3rd January 1892.

William was a joiner’s foreman. Herbert’s brother Jim was a mechanic in one of the town’s cotton spinning mills. 

There is a monument in Christ Church, Walmsley in Egerton, Bolton which explains that his mother Mary died on 4th August in 1902 when she was 42 and Herbert was only 10 years old. 

The headstone also reveals the added family tragedy that Herbert had an older sister, Isabel, who died 16th April 1891 when she was only 16 months old. 

Finally, carved into the stone are the words ‘Also Lance Corporal Herbert Baxendale No 1478 1st 20th County of London Regiment their son killed in action in France September 17th 1916, aged 24 years.’  

Herbert had attended Christ Church Elementary School in Bolton and then went to the Municipal Secondary school in the town.

He had actually voluntarily enlisted into the British Army in New Cross in 1914 at the end of his first year of the two year teacher training certificate course.

He’d passed all his exams in all subjects in July 1914. 

Herbert was sponsored for his training at Goldsmiths’ College by Bolton Borough Council which had employed him as an Assistant Schoolmaster in their Elementary schools. 

He was 21 years old when he started his studies on 17th September 1913 and resided in the Grove Hostel ‘hall of residence’ for Goldsmiths’ College students in Lewisham. 

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the inscription ‘He paid the price.’

At the time of his death his father William Baxendale and brother were still living at 51 Shrewsbury Road, Bolton. Lancashire.

The Bolton Evening News reported he had died from his wounds in a clearing station.

Goldsmiths’ College records say he died in the extended Battle of the Somme, the town’s evening paper said it was the Battle of Loos, but his grieving brother Jim would pay for an In Memoriam notice one year later saying:

‘BAXENDALE- In loving memory of my dear brother, Herbert Baxendale, who died of wounds on September 17th 1916, received during the battle of High Wood. I miss him and mourn him in silence, and dwell on the memories that have been.’

Herbert was posthumously awarded the British War and Victory medals and 1914-15 star.

His family cherished the bronze plaque sent by the King George V to all next of kin who had loved ones killed during the Great War. 

This would have also been accompanied by a scroll in calligraphy with the words: ‘He whom this scroll commemorates was numbered among those who, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten.’

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REQUIEM AETERNUM

No emerald tuft his corpse embowers;

No amethystic cross;

No twined wreaths of starry flowers

Mark where a weeping maiden cowers;

No bell proclaims her loss.

 

Only the glint of sun rays falling

Athwart her silken hair;

Only a soul-strained moan a-calling

Over the sea with cry enthrawling;

O Peace- and art thou there ?

Poem published in the December 1915 edition of Goldsmiths’ College magazine The Goldsmithian. We do not know the author. The magazine only provides the letters ‘C.H.W.’

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C W Beecher 1910-1912 Royal Scots Fusiliers. 

Private Charles Walter Beecher had the service number 201295 and served in the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.

He was 27 years old when he died on 11th April 1918.

It’s believed he took part in the Battle of Messines in Belgium, was wounded and taken to a clearing station in France where he died.

He is buried and commemorated in the Haverskerque British Cemetery in plot C. 9. Haverskerque is a village and commune in the north of France on the main D916 road between St Venant and Morbecque.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the following inscription: ‘In loving memory of our only son from his sorrowing father and mother.’

He is also commemorated with a headstone in the Kent and Sussex Cemetery and Crematorium in Royal Tunbridge Wells though it gives the date of death 10th April 1918.

Charles Walter Beecher was the son of Charles and Alice Eda Beecher who were living at 37 Grosvenor Park in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent at the time of his death while on active service.

Charles went to the Skinners School in Tunbridge Wells, joining in 1902, and playing football for the first XI between 1906 to 1909.

He was a sergeant in the School’s OTC in 1907 and was made School Captain in the same year.

After leaving the school he trained as a school teacher at Goldsmiths’ College University of London, qualified and was certificated by the Board of Education in 1912. 

He was sponsored by Kent County Council and took up his first teaching post at Tunbridge Grammar School.

Charles enlisted in Derby and the Derbyshire Advertiser for 3rd May 1918 reported:

‘Teacher at the Deaf Institute Killed. Signaller Charles W. Beecher, of the signalling section attached to the Royal Scots, was killed in action in France on April 11th. Mr Beecher came from the staff of the Tunbridge Grammar School to the Royal Institution for he Deaf and Dumb, Derby, in February 1913, and later qualified as a teacher of the deaf. He identified himself closely with the after school work of the boys, being the first scout-master of the institution troop of scouts, and had charge of the boys’ swimming, successfully passing some of the scholars for certificates of the Royal Life-saving Society. At the monthly meeting of the Board of Management a vote of condolence expressing sympathy for the relatives was unanimously passed. ‘

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E W Betts 1911-1913  East Surrey Regiment.

Corporal Edmund William Betts had the service number 1799 during his time in the 7th Battalion East Surrey Regiment.

He was 25 years old when he died on 8th March 1916.

He is buried and commemorated at the Vermelles British Cemetery at plot II. J. 5. at Vermelles, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France 

He was the son of Edmund W. and Minnie Betts, of 31 Medway Street in Chatham, Kent.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission Grave headstone has the inscription ‘And now the faithful warrior rests in the calm of paradise blest.’

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B W Brown 1909-1911 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers.

Corporal Benjamin William Brown had the service number 9955 during his time in the 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers.

He was 27 years old when he died on 17th May 1917.

He is buried and commemorated at the Struma Military Cemetery in Greece at plot VII. G. 3. in Kalokastron, Regional unit of Serres, Central Macedonia, Greece.

He was the son of Edwin and Harriett Mary Ann Brown, of 14 Haggard Road, Twickenham, Middlesex.

He was born in Richmond in Surrey and his older brother Walter James, who was also trained as a teacher at Goldsmiths’ College died while on active service in 1915.

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W J Brown 1905-1907 8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment.

Private Walter James Brown had the service number TF/2623 while in the 1st/8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment.

He was 29 years old when he died on 25th April 1915.

He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial on panel 49 in west Flanders, Belgium.

There is an architectural connection between Goldsmiths’ College and the Menin Gate. For  the gate was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield who was also responsible for the Blomfield Art School block built to square off the quadrangle of Goldsmiths’ College in 1908 and funded by the Goldsmiths’ Company.

The Menin Gate was commissioned by the Imperial War Graves Commission (since renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), and was unveiled on 24th July 1927.

Like his younger brother Benjamin William, Walter James was the son of Edwin and Harriett Mary Ann Brown of 14 Haggard Road in Twickenham Middlesex.

Mr Brown is still remembered at Stanley Primary School in Teddington. He had been a teacher there for six years before the outbreak of World War One when it was called the Teddington Council School.  An original memorial photograph remains at the school and his name is engraved on the school’s war memorial.

Each November the school maintains a Remembrance celebration with his sepia photograph portrait resting on the memorial while current pupils and staff observe two-minutes’ silence and there is the laying of a wreath of poppies.

They have retained a news cutting from a local Teddington and Richmond weekly newspaper providing a charming and moving obituary of him: 

‘THE DEATH OF PRIVATE W. BROWN.

A General Favourite at the Council School.

Confirmation is to hand of the death in action of Mr. Walter Brown one of the masters at the Council School serving in the 8th Middlesex Territorials. Lance-Corporal Boyden, a master in the same school, who was hurt in the same action and is in hospital n Torquay, sends the following account of the end of a gallant life.

“The engagement commenced after dinner on Sunday, April 25, near Zonnebeke. A and B companies of the 8th were with the East Surreys to re-take a trench which the enemy had captured on Saturday night. It was charged and taken at the point of the bayonet, but at a heavy loss on our side owing to the enemy’s superior numbers. It was during that period that poor old Wally fell like a brave Englishman. His death was instantaneous. I was not able to get to him afterwards as we were subjected to a very severe counter-attack, and I was hors de combat.”

Another wounded comrade who is now home relates that, although suffering very badly from blistered feet, and advised by his chums to fall out before the fatal Sunday, Walter Brown was determined to “stick it” for the sake of the example to the younger men of the regiment, some of whom he had taught as boys in school. 

Mr Brown had lived in this locality all his life. After school days at Holy Trinity, Richmond, he became a pupil teacher there, and after leaving the Goldsmiths’ College, where he served as a Territorial, he took service under the Middlesex County Council. For a time he was at Brentford, but in 1909 came to the Council school at Teddington, where he remained until he rejoined the Forces in September last. Of a singularly bright and humorous disposition, “Wally” Brown was popular with all who knew him. He was regarded with affection by his boys at school, to whom he was an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher. His interest in sports and his talent as a humorist won for him a special place in the hearts of all the kids. Last year he trained the football team which won the School-boy Championship of Middlesex, and in connection with the White Star Minstrels and at the regimental concerts he was well-known. His death is a loss, not only to his relatives and comrades, but also to the scholastic profession, and leaves a blank not easily to be filled. Mr Brown was 29 years of age and unmarried.’

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W V Burgess 1914-1915 Royal Berkshire Regiment. 

Second Lieutenant William Vernon Burgess served in the 6th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment.

He was 20 years old when he died on 19th July 1916.

He is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial at Pier and Face 11 D. in France.

He was the son of William Henry and Eliza Davies Burgess of Brussells House, 177 Folkestone Road in Dover.

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F C Butler 1912-1914 20th Battalion London Regiment.

Company Serjeant Major Frederick Charles Butler had the service number 1180 during his time in the 1st/20th Battalion, London Regiment.

He was 24 years old when he died 21st May 1916.

He is commemorated at the Arras Memorial in France at Bay 9 or 10.

He was the only son of Ada Mary Butler of “Oakleigh” Guildford Road, Bagshot in Surrey, and the late Frederick Nicholas Butler.

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I G Carter 1911-1913 London Scottish. 

Private Ivor George Carter had the service number 5419 in the 1st/14th Battalion London Regiment (London Scottish).

He died on active service during the first day of the Battle of the Somme 1st July 1916.

He is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial in France at Pier and Face 9 C and 13 C.

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W J Clay  1908-1910. Royal Fusiliers.

 

Private William Joseph Clay had the service number 10875 during his time in the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers.

He died 12th November 1915 and is buried and commemorated at the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery at plot D. 191.

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J H W Collins 1913-1915 Lancashire Regiment.   

Awarded the Military Cross.

Second Lieutenant James Henry William Collins served in the 6th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.

He was 22 years old when he died on 6th May 1917.

He is buried and commemorated at the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery at plot XV. L. 5. in Iraq.

At the time of his death he was the son of the late Mrs. M. A. Bristow (formerly Collins), of The Mount, Cranleigh, Surrey, and the late J. Collins.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is inscribed with the words: ‘Thy will be done.’

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S A Creek 1909- 1911 20th Battalion London Regiment. 

Serjeant Stanley Alister Creek had the service number 2064 while he was in the 20th Battalion London Regiment.

He was 25 years old when he died on 15th September 1916.

He is buried and commemorated at the London Cemetery and Extension at Longueval at plot 1A.D.18. in France.

He was the son of Joseph Henry Creek and Catherine Ann Creek, of 55 Elgin Road in Croydon, Surrey.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is inscribed with the words: ‘A wall unto us by day and by night his memory liveth always.’

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C J Denly 1907-1909 Royal Field Artillery

Gunner Charles John Denly had the service number 2017 during his time in “B” Battery, 237th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery.

He was 27 years old when he died on 23rd August 1916.

He is buried and commemorated at the Flatiron Copse Cemetery in plot I. D. 49 at Mametz in France.

He was the son of Charles and Emily Frances Denly and was born at Cobham in Surrey.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the inscription ‘They will be done.’

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F J Dier 1905-1907 Royal East Kent Regiment.

Awarded The Military Medal.

Private Frank John Dier had the service number T/270082 during his time in the 10th Battalion of the Royal East Kent and West Kent Yeomanry.

They have always been known as the ‘The Buffs.’

He was 32 years old when he died on 21st September 1918.

His name is commemorated at the Vis-En-Artois Memorial, Panel 3 in France.

At the time of his death he was the son of Gertrude Dier of 91, Beresford Road, Gillingham, and the late William Dier.

He was the husband of Ellen Lovica Brown (formerly Dier), of 10 Hilldrop Road, Camden Road in London.

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W L Doyne 1912-1913 10th Manchesters 

Private Walter Lloyd Doyne was in the 1st/4th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment with the service number 6125 during the First World War.

He was 25 years old when he died on 9th September 1916.

His name is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial in France at Pier and Face 11 A.

He was the son of Walter and Georgina Doyne, of 2 Marion Street in Oldham, Lancashire.

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T G Dunningham 1912-1914 20th Battalion London Regiment.  

Private Thomas George Dunningham had the service number 1191 during his time in the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

He was 21 years old when he died on 25th September 1915.

He is buried and commemorated at the Arras Road Cemetery, Roclincourt in France at plot III. H. 22.

He was the son of Mr. G. Dunningham, of 18 Manor Road, Dovercourt in north Essex.  

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A Emmerson 1912-1914 Royal Flying Corps. 

Second Lieutenant Alfred Emmerson served in the 12th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. 

He had been transferred from the 5th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment.

He died from wounds after his plane was shot down in a dog-fight with an enemy aircraft on 4th April 1917 in France. He was 25 years old.

[It appears the memorial spelt Alfred’s surname incorrectly and gave him a middle name initial he did not have.]

Alfred had been seconded to the Royal Flying Corps as an artillery spotter.

He was flying with pilot Lt. Karl Horner of the West Yorkshire Regiment when they were both shot down and suffered fatal injuries. 

They had been flying the B.E.2E  aircraft with the serial number 2563 which was a two seater single engined aircraft used for reconnaissance, as a light bomber, night fighter, trainer, or coastal patrol aircraft during World War One. 

The Leicester Mercury newspaper reported 11th April 1917:

“LOCAL CASUALTIES.” THE LATE LIEUT. A. EMMERSON

As previously reported in these columns, Lieut. Alfred Emmerson, Royal Flying Corps, was killed in action last week. The son of Mr. J. Emmerson, manager of the Bagworth Colliery, he had only just completed his training at a London College, and had been temporarily engaged as assistant master at Markfield Schools when war broke out. He immediately enlisted in the Leicester’s, and was later transferred to the R.F.C.

He was killed in an air duel with an enemy aeroplane. Lieut. Emmerson who was 25, and the pilot receiving mortal injuries.

Great sympathy is felt for the young wife and the father in their bereavement. Another of Mr. Emmerson’s sons, Lieut. Joseph Emmerson, Leicester Regiment, was killed in the attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, while a third, Private Wm. Emmerson, of the Liverpool Scottish, has been a prisoner of war in Germany for about two years.’

Alfred Emmerson is buried and commemorated at the Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery, Saulty in the plot V. H. 6.

He is also commemorated on the war memorial in the Holy Rood Churchyard in Bagworth, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough, Leicestershire.

He was the son of Jabez Emmerson, of White House, Bagworth, Leicestershire and the husband of Maggie Emmerson of Shenton, Nuneaton whom he married in 1915.

Alfred married Maggie Lea in the Parish church of Hugglescote, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicetershire  on 20th February 1915. He was 22 and she was 25. Their fathers, Jabez Emmerson and William Lea, were described on the marriage certificate respectfully as colliery manager and gardener. 

The personal inscription on Alfred’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is: ‘He lived God’s purpose to maintain and passed to live more worthily again.’

Alfred’s Goldsmiths’ College student record discloses that he joined the two year teacher training certificate course on 18th September 1912 having qualified by passing Cambridge Senior local exams in July 1910 and December 1911. 

He had been educated at the Bagworth Council Elementary School and moved to the Grammar School at Ashby-de-la Zouch for his secondary education. While studying at Goldsmiths he lodged with a Mrs Packham at 29 Endwell Road, Brockley. 

He passed his first year exams in July 1913 though it was observed he was ‘weak in history’ and passed his final exams in July 1914 in the grade of ‘Division II.’

He was recognised by the Board of Education as a qualified teacher on 1st August 1914 and was immediately employed by the Leicestershire Education Committee as a permanent supply teacher. 

Alfred’s family received his three World War One campaign medals after his death and these were the British Victory and War medals, and the 1914-15 Star.

He left probate of £192 17s 2d probate to his widow Maggie which had the approximate value of £11,236 in May 2024. 

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D A P Evans 1913-1915 20th Battalion London Regiment.

Private David Arthur Powell Evans had the service number 1479 during his time in the 1st/20th Battalion London Regiment during World War One.

He was 20 years old when he died on 18th October 1915.

His name is commemorated on Panel 130 to 135 of the Loos Memorial in France.

He was the son of David Powell Evans, of 3 Pwllglas Terrace, Pengam, in Cardiff, and the late Sarah Evans.

He did teacher training at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London.

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P L Evans 1906-1908 14th Middlesex Regiment.  

Sergeant Percy Llewellyn Evans had the service number 12012 when he served in the 24th Battalion Middlesex Regiment in France.

It was while he was on active service overseas that he contracted tuberculosis.

He died from this disease on 12th February 1917 at a sanatorium in North London.

He is buried and commemorated in the Friern Barnet (St James The Great) Churchyard with a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Headstone.

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D J Foreman 1907-1909. 13th Kensington Battalion, London Regiment. 

Private David James Foreman had the service number 493606 when he served in the 13th Kensington Battalion of the London Regiment during the First World War.

He also served in other units including a Trench Mortar Battery and many theatres of war around the world.

He died 4th March 1918 and is buried and commemorated at the Roclincourt Military Cemetery in France in plot V.A.20.

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H D Fraser 1911-1913 16th Battalion London Regiment. 

Serjeant Horace Duncan Fraser had the service number 550514 while serving in the 2nd/16th Battalion London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles).

He was 24 years old when he on died 10th May 1917.

He is buried and commemorated at the Karasouli Military Cemetery in Greece in the plot E. 1075.

He was the son of William Alexander and Lois Annie Fraser, of 2 Cross Rd., New Southgate, north London.

The personal inscription on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission is: He died that we might live.’

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R L Garner 1910-1911  11th Battalion London Regiment. 

Second Lieutenant Robert Leonard Garner served in the 11th Battalion London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles) during World War One.

He also served in London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles)

He died 24th August 1918 and his name is commemorated on Panel 10 of the Vis-En-Artois Memorial in France.

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J. H. Gladwell 1910-1912 Royal West Kent Regiment. 

Second Lieutenant John Henry Gladwell served in the 7th Battalion Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment during the First World War.

He was 25 years old and died 14th October 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot I. D. 60. of the Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery in Belgium.

He was born in Faversham, Kent and the son of James and Eliza Gladwell of Lucerne Street, Sittingbourne in Kent. Born Faversham.

He had been an assistant master of the New Council School in Worcester.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription: ‘Till the day break and the shadows flee away. “The best is yet to be.”‘  

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G H Gordon 1906-1908 8th London Howitzer Brigade. 

Gunner Graham Henry Gordon had the service number 819 when in “D” Battery in 236th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery.

He was 29 years old wen he died on 4th October 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot B. 20. 16. of St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen in France.

The personal inscription on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is: ‘The gift of God is eternal life.’

He was the son of Griffith and Mary A. Gordon of Clapton, east London and the husband of Ellen Gordon, of 35 Newick Road Clapton.

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B G Hadingham 1913-1914 6th Essex Regiment 

Private Bertie Gordon Hadingham had the service number 2335 when serving in the 1st/6th Battalion of the Essex Regiment.

He was 25 years old when he died from dysentery in a military hospital in Alexandria on 17th December 1915.

He had been in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force taking part in the ill-fated Gallipoli invasion of Turkey.

He is buried and commemorated in plot C. 98. of the Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt.

He is also commemorated on the memorial for Southend-On-Sea Corporation employees as he was employed as a teacher in a local school before joining the army.

He is further commemorated with his name on a memorial for fallen teachers at the headquarters of Norfolk County Council which had funded his teacher-training and first employed him at a school in Norwich.

He was the son of Hedley and Catherine Hadingham, of Carleton Forehoe, Wymondham, Norfolk.

His parents experienced a double tragedy in losing another of their three sons, Donald, who was killed while on active service in Gaza.

After qualifying as a teacher at Goldsmiths’ College he taught in schools in Norfolk and Essex and was a member of the National Union of Teachers.

He posthumously received the British War and Victory medals and 1914-15 Star.

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W T Hadlow 1910-1912 The Buffs.  

Private William Thomas Hadlow had the service number 260161 in the 9th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment which is known as ‘The Buffs.’

He died on 27th March 1918 and is buried and commemorated at plot P. VI. M. 3A. in the Saint Sever Cemetery Extension in Rouen, France.

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W H Haine 1910-1912.  King’s Royal Rifle Corps.

Rifleman Walter Haine had service number R/6146 in the 11th Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He was 28 years old when he died on 17th September 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot VIII. N. 2. of the Guards’ Cemetery, LesBoeufs, France.

He was the son of Thomas and Sarah Frances Haine of Woolverton, Beckington, Bath.

He was a native of Westbury in Wiltshire.  

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H C Harris 1909-1911 6th Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment.  

Captain Herbert Cecil Harris was a commissioned officer in the 6th Battalion of the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment).

He died on 3rd July 1916, the third day of the Battle of the Somme.

His name is commemorated at Pier and Face 11 C. of the Thieval Memorial in France.

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F J Hatton 1909-1911 174th Battalion RFA. 

Corporal Frederick James Hatton had the service number L/28341 in his time in “B” Battery 174th Brigade Royal Field Artillery.

He died on 4th April 1918 and his name is commemorated at the Pozieres Memorial in France.

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W Hewett 1912-1914 20th Battalion London Regiment. 

Lance Serjeant Walter Hewett had the service number 1207 during his time in the 20th Battalion London Regiment.

He was 22 years old when he died on 20t March 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot V. D. 11. of the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez in France.

He was the son of Edward and Margaret Hewett of Reigate in Surrey.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record states he had been a Territorial soldier and  educated at Goldsmiths’ College in New Cross.

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J Hirst 1912-1914 20th Battalion London Regiment.  

Awarded the Military Medal.

Second Lieutenant James Hirst was commissioned in the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

He died 14th September 1918 and is name is commemorated on Panel 10 of the Vis-En-Artois Memorial in France.

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C Jago 1906-1908 City of London Yeomanry.

Saddler Charles Jago enlisted into the City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) with the service number 40816.

He died on 20th September 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot C. 74. of the Deir El Belah War Cemetery in what the Commonwealth War Graves Commission describes as ‘Israel and Palestine (including Gaza)’.

The cemetery is about 16 kilometres east of the Egyptian border, and 20 kilometres south-west of Gaza.

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W A Jolly Office Staff Northumberland Fusiliers.

Serjeant Walter Albert Atkinson Jolly was a member of the office staff of Goldsmiths’ College, University of London.

During World War One Walter had the service number 252301 after enlisting in the 3rd Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers).

He was 22 years old when he died on 24th March 1918.

He is buried and commemorated in plot Sp. Mem. 3. L. 9. of the Chauny Communal Cemetery, British Extension in France.

The personal inscription on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is: ‘He sleeps upon another shore in peace where wars shall be no more.’

He was the son of the late Walter George Jolly and of Rose Jolly of 67 Roding Road, Clapton in east London.

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D R Jones 1913-1915 1st Battalion Welsh Guards. 

Awarded the Military Medal. Private David Rice Jones had the service number 1523 during his time in the 2nd Company 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards.

He was 28 years old when he died on 10th September 1916.

His name is commemorated on Pier and Face 7 D. of the Thiepval Memorial in France.

He was the son of Mrs. Jones, of 15 Cardiff Street, Aberdare, and the late Daniel Jones.

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E L Jones 1909-1911 14th Battalion London Scottish Regiment.  

Serjeant Emlyn Lewis Jones had the service number 2416 during his time in the 1st/14th Battalion of the London Regiment (London Scottish).

He was 24 years old when he died on 13th October 1915.

He had enlisted as a volunteer in September 1914. His name is commemorated on Panel 32 of the Loos Memorial in France.

He was the son of Thomas Spencer Jones and Elizabeth Jones of 15 Camden Gardens, Shepherd’s Bush, London.

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G S Jones 1911-1913  M.T.A.S.C. Motor Transport, Army Service Corps [Requiring further research.]

Private G Jones had the service number M2/167090 when serving in the 692nd Motor Transport Company of the Army Service Corps.

He died 28th October 1916 and his name is commemorated on the Delhi Memorial (India Gate) at Face 23.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that he is buried in a Cemetery at Peshawar (Right) in plot B.C. XXIX. 21.

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G T Jones 1913-1915 Gas Engineers.

Corporal Gwilym Thomas Jones had the service Number 4273 during his time in the 22nd Labour Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment.

His army records indicate he transferred to the 65th Company of the Labour Corps with the service number 38592.

He was 24 years old when died on 1st October 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot I. J. 29. of the Brandhoek New Military Cemetery No. 3 in Belgium.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the inscription ‘Rest in peace.’

He was the son of William and Elizabeth Jones, of Porth, Glamorgan.

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A J Kemp 1915-1917 5th County London Regiment. 

Private Arthur James Kemp had the service number 682693 during his time in “B” Company 2nd/22nd Battalion of the London Regiment.

He was 21 years old when he died on 30th March 1918.

His name is commemorated on panels 45 to 52 of the Jerusalem Memorial in what the Commonwealth War Graves Commission describes as Israel and Palestine (including Gaza).

He was the son of Edwin and Fanny Lucy Kemp of North Rd, Goudhurst in Kent.

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H E A Kerry 1910-1912 5th Battalion County London Regiment. 

Rifleman Harry Edgar Albert Kerry had the service number 802 during his time in Number 3 Company 1st/5th Battalion the London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade).

He was 22 years old wen he died on 3rd May 1915.

His name is commemorated on Panel 54 on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

He was an Assistant Master at Bowes Road School in New Southgate, north London.

He was the son of Henry John and Mary Ann Kerry of Wilson “Ashleigh” 11 Shelford Road, Milton, in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

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O A Kerridge 1913-1916 16th Battalion Durham Light Infantry. 

Second Lieutenant Oswald Alfred Kerridge was commissioned as an officer in the 16th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.

He was 25 years old when he died on 23rd July 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in the plot for officers A. 4. 8. at the St Sever Cemetery, Rouen in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription: Died for King & Country.’

He was the son of William and Mary Jane Kerridge, of “The Laurels” in Walsham-le-Willows in Suffolk.

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P T Ketcher 1910-1912 20th Battalion County London Regiment.

Private Percy Thomas Ketcher had the service number 2824 during his time in the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

He was transferred to a secondary unit and posted to the 47th (London) Division, Cyclist Company, Army Cyclist Corps.

He was 25 years old when he died on 29th March 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot VI. E. 12A. of the Etaples Military Cemetery in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription ‘Whom we have loved long since and lost awhile.’

He was the son of Charles William and Fanny Ketcher of the Metropolitan Water Board, Hampton in Middlesex.

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H A W Knight 1908-1910 1st/15th Battalion County London Regiment. 

Private Hugh Alfred William Knight had the service number 4521 during his time in H.Q. Company, 1st/15th Battalion London Regiment (Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles.

He was 28 years old wen he died on 15th September 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot XXI. E. 1. in the Serre Road Cemetery No.2 in France.

He was the son of the late Alfred A. and Marian Knight.

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W B Lacy 1915-1916 Civil Service Rifles.  

Second Lieutenant William Braithwaite Lacy was commissioned as an officer in the 15th Battalion of the London Regiment (Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles).

He was 28 years old when he died on 14th December 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot VIII. A. 27. of the Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery in Manancourt in France.

He was born in Goole, Yorkshire and the son of George Hudson Lacy and Jane Lacy of 157 Halifax Old Road, Birkby, Huddersfield.

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A D Litolff 1915-1917.  King’s Royal Rifle Corps. 

Lance Corporal Alexander David Litolff had the service number C/7968 during his time in the 21st Battalion of the 21st Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps.

He was 19 years old when he died on 9th August 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in Plot 1. Row A. Grave 1. of the Ferme-Olivier Cemetery in Belgium.

He was the son of David James and Eliza Litolff of Pembury, Chelsham Road, Croydon inSurrey.

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G A C Lomas 1908-1910 20th Battalion County London Regiment. 

Second Lieutenant George Archibald Colin Lomas was a commissioned officer in the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

He was awarded the DCM- Distinguished Conduct Medal.

He was 28 years old when he died on 22nd May 1916.

He was buried and commemorated in plot III. E. 6. of the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery in Souchez France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription ‘Life for evermore.’

He was born at Hurstbourne, Tarrant in Hampshire.

He was the son of the Reverend Charles and Kate E. Lomas of 149 Dornley Road, Gravesend in Kent.

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W Loring First Warden 2nd Battalion Scottish Horse.     See detailed posting on his life and service on Goldsmiths History site. 

Captain William Loring re-enlisted in the Second Battalion Scottish Horse at the outbreak of the First World War.

He had been previously commissioned as an officer during his service in the Regiment during the South African or Boer War.

He died from a sniper wound to his leg on 24th October 1915 and was given a sea burial in the Aegean Sea.

His name is commemorated on Panel 21 of the Helles Memorial in Turkey on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

During his army service he received the DCM, Distinguished Conduct Medal and was Mentioned in Despatches.

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J N M Losh 1913-1915  Lincolnshire Regiment. 

Second Lieutenant James Norman Merryweather Losh had been commissioned as an officer in the 3rd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment though he was posted to the First Battalion.

He was 22 years old when he died on 4th October 1917.

His name is commemorated on Panel 35 to 37 of the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.

He was the son of James and Lizzie Losh of Spalding, Lincolnshire.

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A McKimmie 1911-1913 Late Seaforth, R.F.C.  

Lieutenant Alexander McKimmie served in the 6th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps having first enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders.

He was 23 years old when he died on 23rd May 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot X. A. 36. of the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription ‘In faith and hope beloved one we give thee up to God.’

He was the son of George and Jane McKimmie, of 42 Undercliff Road Lewisham in south east London.

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P H Martin 1909-1911 2nd/3rd Battalion London Regiment. 

Private Percy Henry Martin had the service number 3033 during his time in the 2nd/3rd Battalion of the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers).

He died on 25th June 1915 and is  buried and commemorated in plot 1. C. 3. of the Khartoum War Cemetery in Sudan.

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A E Merritt 1910-1912 Hampshire Regiment.  

Serjeant Alfred Ernest Merritt had the service number 6392 during his time in the 2nd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment during World War One.

He died on 23rd April 1917 and his name is commemorated on Bay 6 of the Arras Memorial in France.

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E S Miller 1907-1909 City of London Yeomanry.

Private Ernest Septimus Millier was issued with the service number 2191 during his time in the City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders).

He was 27 years old when he died on 21st August 1915.

He is buried and commemorated in the plot II. F. 6. of the Green Hill Cemetery in Turkey and Gallipoli Peninsula.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription commissioned by his widow: ‘He answered the call of duty. His name liveth for ever. Gladys.’

He was the son of Mrs. E. Miller, of Wearside Road Lewisham, London and husband of Gladys Mildred Salter (formerly Miller) of Hambrook Lodge, West Ashling in Chichester.

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E H Milway 1909-1911 Royal Fusiliers. 

Captain Edwin Horace Milway was commissioned as an officer in the 10th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War.

He was 27 years old when he died on 8th October 1918 barely a month before the Armistice that brought an end to the Great War of 1914-18.

He had previously served at Gallipoli and in Egypt with the Royal Army Medical Corps.

He is buried and commemorated in plot II. J. 17. of the London Cemetery, Neuville-Vitasse in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription: ‘Peace Perfect Peace.’

He was the son of Mr. D. C. and Mrs. M. A. M. Milway of 23 Oxford Street, Margate.

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J B Nightingale 1911-1913 20th Battalion London Regiment.

Serjeant James Beaconsfield Nightingale was issued with the service number 1050 during his time in the 1st/20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

He was 23 years old when he died on 25th September 1915.

He is buried and commemorated in plot VIII. S. 3/21. of the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription ‘R.I.P.’ carved into the stone.

He was the son of James and Alice Mary Nightingale of 194 Church Road, Teddington in Middlesex.

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F G Notton 1913-1915 Welsh Guards.

Second Lieutenant Frank Gwyer Notton was commissioned as an officer into the 5th Battalion of the Welsh Regiment during the First World War.

He died on 27th August 1917 and his name is commemorated on Panel 93 to 94 of the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.

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S T Payne 1911-1913 R.F.C.

Lieutenant Sydney Thomas Payne was commissioned as an officer pilot in 13th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps which when merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1st April 1918 became the Royal Air Force.

He was 24 years old when he died on 6th April 1918.

His name is commemorated on the Arras Flying Service Memorial in France.

He was the son of George and Sarah Payne of 15 Elm Cottage, Marpit Hill, Eden Bridge in Kent.

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W Pearson 1910-1912 Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.  [Requiring further research and investigation]

At the time of writing there is no student record of a ‘W Pearson’ studying at Goldsmiths’ College between 1910-12.

Furthermore, the only soldier enlisted to have died during World War One with the surname Pearson in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry has different initials and forenames to ‘W.’

Every effort is being made to fully identify and give remembrance to the gentleman referred to on the Goldsmiths memorial.

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J W T Pepper 1909-1911 1st/5th Battalion London Regiment.

Rifleman James William Thomas Pepper was issued with the service number 793 for his time in the 1st/5th Battalion of the London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade).

He was 23 years old when he died on 26th April 1915.

His name is commemorated on Panel 54 of Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

He was the only son of James William and Emma M. Pepper, of 15 West Cliff, Whitstable.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission record discloses he had received a Batchelor of Arts degree from the University of London which he would have studied at Goldsmiths’ College.

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W S Perrier 1912-1914 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers.

Second Lieutenant William Samuel Perrier had been commissioned as an officer in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers.

He died on 27th March 1916 and his name is commemorated on Panel 8 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

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E G Powley 1912-1914 20th Battalion London Regiment.  

Private Edward Gwinn Powley had the service number 1511 during his time in the 20th Battalion London Regiment.

He was 21 years old when he died on 19th July 1915.

He is buried and commemorated in Plot II. C. 7. of the Fosse 7 Military Cemetery (Quality Street), Mazingarbe in France.

He was the son of Edward and Clara Powley of High Street, Ewell in Surrey.

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A D G Procter 1910-1912 Royal Fusiliers.  

Second Lieutenant Alexander Duncan Guthrie Procter received an officer’s commission in the 8th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War.

He was 24 years old when he died on 7th July 1916. His name is commemorated at Pier and Face 8 C 9 A and 16 A. of the Thiepval Memorial in France.

He was the son of the late Charles and Janet G. Procter.

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W H Powell 1908-1910.   Royal West Kent Regiment.

Sergeant William Herbert Powell had the service number 203251 when he was in the 2nd/4th Battalion Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) during World War One.

He had enlisted at the Bromley recruiting office.

He died on 4th November 1917 and his name is commemorated on Panel 40 of the Jerusalem Memorial in what the Commonwealth War Graves Commission describes as  ‘Israel and Palestine (including Gaza).’

William was a casualty of the Palestine campaign and reported ‘wounded & missing’, presumed to have died near the current Israeli city of Beersheb(v)a which is in the southern Negev desert area.

It is also presumed his body was not recovered for formal burial. 

The Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War does include a portrait of him in uniform.  

William was born in Harborne in Birmingham on 4th September 1889.

He was sponsored by Kent County Council to train as a teacher at Goldsmiths between 1908 and 1910.

When William was at Goldsmiths’ College he continued living at home at The Lodge, Stramshall Lodge in West Wickham, Beckenham in Kent.

His family in the 1911 census included his father William Abel Powell who was working as a domestic gardener, his mother Lily, and older sister Lily who was working as an assistant milliner.

William had been a pupil teacher at Beckenham County School, employed by the Kent Education Committee, and had also attended the Raglan School in Bromley before going to Goldsmiths.

He passed his final exams at Goldsmiths in July 1910, was certificated as a qualified teacher and recognised by the Board of Education in October of that year and started teaching in National Schools in Snodland, Kent from that time.

William married Cecilia Timmins at St Mary’s Church in Chilham on 17th May 1916. William was 27 years old and Cecilia was a 29 year old assistant schoolteacher. 

William left probate to Cecilia of £210 7s 8d which allowing for inflation had the value of around £7,900 in June 2024.

His family received his three World War One campaign medals: British War, Victory and 1914-15 Star.

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H Rees 1915-1917 R.N.V.R. 

Signalman Hananiah Rees was given the service number ‘Wales/Z/3488’ during his First World War service in home waters for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

He was a signalman on the S.S. “T. R. Thompson” when it was torpedoed and sunk on 29th March 1918.

Hananiah was presumed drowned and his body never recovered.

His name is commemorated at place 30. on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

The Plymouth Memorial was commissioned and unveiled in 1920 for members of the Royal Navy who died during the First World War and had no known grave.

The panels are inscribed with the names of similar casualties of the Second World War.

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R Robinson 1910-1912 5th Battalion London Regiment.

Rifleman Ralph Robinson was issued with the service number 795 for his enlistment with 1st/5th Battalion of the London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade).

He was 23 years old when he died on 27th April 1915.

His name is commemorated on Panel 54 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

He was the son of Charles A. Robinson, of 65 Palmerston Crescent, Palmer’s Green, London, and the late Agnes Mary Robinson.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record discloses that he had obtained a Batchelor of Arts degree from the University of London which he would have studied at Goldsmiths’ College.

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F S Ridout 1908- 1910. London Regiment. 

Lance Corporal Frederick Stephen Ridout had the service number 511276 during his time in “C” Company of the London Regiment (London Scottish).

He was 31 years old when he died on 31st August 1918. Frederick was born at Richmond, Surrey.

He is buried and commemorated in plot II. F. 4. of the H.A.C. Cemetery, Ecoust-St. Mein in France.

He was the son of George H. and Alice Maud Ridout and husband of Louise Nora Ridout, of 68, Santos Road, West Hill, Wandsworth, London.

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F T Scott 1913-1915 20th Battalion London Regiment.  

Corporal Frederick Thomas Scott had the service number 1471 in the 2nd/20th Battalion of th London Regiment.

He was 22 years old when he died on 13th August 1916.

His name is commemorated on Bays 9 to 10 of the Arras Memorial in France.

He was the son of Frederick and Ellen Scott, of 48 Bensham Grove, Thornton Heath in Surrey.

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C L Smith 1910-1912 London Regiment. 

Serjeant Leonard Cecil Smith was issued with the service number 231250 during his enlistment with the 2nd/2nd Battalion of the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers).

He was 21 years old when he died on 26th October 1917.

His name is commemorated on Panel 148 to 150 of the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.

He was the son of Mrs. M. Smith, of 20 Waterloo Road, Epsom.

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W O Smyth 1913-1915 20th Battalion London Regiment.

Serjeant Watson Ormsby Smyth had the service number 630280 during his time in the 2nd/20th Battalion of the London Regiment during the First World War.

He was 30 years old when he died on 25th April 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot D. 801. of the Karasouli Military Cemetery in Greece.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is carved with the inscription ‘At Rest’.

He was the son of Thomas and Margaret Smyth of Abbeyleix, Queen’s County, Ireland, and the husband of Irene E. Smyth of Rose Cottage, 7 North Rd., Glossop in Derbyshire.

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I Spencer 1912-1913  Sherwood Foresters.   [The identity, service and family details of this casualty is still subject to further research and confirmation. It is not clear if the first initial is I or F. ]

 

Private Isaac Spencer had the service Number 46031 during his enlistment with 2nd/8th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment).

He died on 26th September 1917.

He is buried and commemorated at Plot VIII. F. 1. of the New Irish Farm Cemetery in Belgium.

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W A Stanfield 1905-1907 R.A.M.C. 

Corporal William Arthur Stanfield had the service number 545432 in the 2nd London Sanitary Company of the Royal Army Medical Corps having also attended the 30th Sanitary Section during the Great War.

He was 33 years old when he died on 1st October 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot A. 125 of the Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription: ‘Loved and missed but never forgotten though far from us all.’

He was the son of Mary Ellen Stanfield and the late Harvey William Stanfield, and the husband of Adelaide Maud Stanfield of 260 Barcombe Avenue, Streatham Hill, in south London.  

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G A Stevens 1910-1912 Royal Engineers. 

Sapper George Albert Stevens was issued with the service number 64857 during his enlistment with the 184th Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers.

He was 26 years old when he died on 19th August 1918.

He is buried and commemorated in plot XXV. G. 22A. of the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.

The personal inscription on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission  headstone indicates two of his brothers were also killed in the First World War: ‘Also in memory of Samuel James Stevens and William John Stevens. Three of the bravest. Three of the best.’

George was the son of Mrs. L. A. Stevens, of Gillingham, Kent, and the late Mr. S. J. Stevens.

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A J Tooley 1911-1913 20th Battalion London Regiment.

Private Albert John Tooley had the service number 1797 during his time in the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

He was 23 years old when he died on 23rd January 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot I. D. 25. of the Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay in France. His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription: ‘Who dies if England lives?’

He was the only son  of John and Bessie E. Tooley, of 44 Stockwell Green, Stockwell in London.

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A G C Townsend 1911-1913 20th Battalion London Regiment.

Private Alfred George Cattle Townsend had the service number 3024 during his enlistment in the 1st/20th Battalion of the  London Regiment during the First World War.

He was 22 years old when he died on 25th September 1915.

He is buried and commemorated in plot VIII. S. 3/21. of the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription ‘Good-bye mother for a little while’ carved into the stone.

He was the only son of Edith Townsend of 300, Wightman Road, Hornsey, London, and the late George C. Townsend.

His CWGC record says he was a School Master by profession.

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W E G Trueman 1912-1914 20th Battalion London Regiment. 

Lance Corporal William Ewart Gladstone Trueman was clearly given the forenames as a tribute to the longstanding Liberal British Prime Minister of the second half of the nineteenth century.

William had the service number 1192 during his time in “D” Company of the 20th Battalion, the London Regiment.

He was 23 years old when he died on 29th September 1915.

He is buried and commemorated in plot I. D. 26. of the Noeux-Les-Mines Communal Cemetery in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription: ‘He died as few men get the chance to die. Sub umbra alarum tuarum.’ 

The translation of the Latin is: ‘Under the shadow of your wings.’

He was the son of Albert Edward and Elizabeth Ann Trueman, of Chatham in Kent.

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K F Veasey 1913-1914.  Leicesters. 

It could be said that only at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London would it be recorded and declared that one of their students killed in action during the First World War, with even his name carved on the College memorial which remains there to this very day, was in fact very much alive. 

Kingsley Fox Veasey did enrol as a student teacher in September 1913 and complete the emergency one year course in 1914 for qualification permitted by the Board of Education for men enlisting in the armed services.

He had been an assistant schoolmaster employed by Leicestershire County Council and was brought up at the Regimental Home of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment in Glen Parva Barracks where his father was a serving Sergeant Major and later canteen manager.

Kingsley had taught in several schools before coming to Goldsmiths including South Wigston Council Boys’ School, St Clement’s Boys’ School, Birmingham, North Council Boys’ Scool in Folkestone, Kent where he was a registered member of the National Union of Teachers.

During the time of his military service he was registered with the Chalkwell Hall Council Boys’ School in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. 

Kingsley did in fact commission as a lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion of the Leicester Regiment and served for five years between 1914 and 1919. But he was not killed in action.

He received the British and Victory War medals. He returned to his teaching career in 1919 eventually being appointed Head Master of schools in Leicestershire including the Roundhill Central School Thurmaston in 1929.

The Goldsmiths’ roll of honour records in 1918-19 even managed to promote him to Captain K F Veasey. They did identify his regiment correctly- ‘The Leicesters’, and the time he was at Goldsmiths ’13-14′, but ‘Killed in Action’ he certainly was not. 

His official student record page does in fact have the words ‘Killed in action’ crossed out.

No doubt Kingsley was most relieved as well as his family. 

I have not been able to find any correspondence relating to this ‘cock-up’ or any account on Mr Veasey’s part about what must have been a curious sensation revisiting Goldsmiths’ College, if he ever did, to appreciate the memorial to his fatal sacrifice in the Great War that never was. 

Kingsley Fox Veasey, far from dying in action during the Great War, also succeeded in marrying Hilda Knight on 26th September 1917 at St Barnabas Church Leicester, shortly before sailing to Durban, Natal in South Africa where he had been posted as a Lieutenant in the King’s African Rifles. 

It seemed he carried on a fulfilling and full life until the age of 77 when he passed away at 6 University Road in Leicester in 1967, leaving probate of £9,068, which allowing for inflation was worth £140,238.85 in June 2024.

The 1921 census records him as Head Master of the Thurnby Elementary School in Leicester while living at 20 Leopold Street, South Wigston, Wigston Magna, and in 1939 at the start of the Second World War he was still a Head Teacher, this time living with Hilda at Ash Barkby Lane, Syston, Barrow-Upon-Soar, Leicestershire.  

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S Veysey 1908-1910 R.G.A 

Second Lieutenant Stanley Veysey was a commissioned officer in the 119th Siege Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

He was 27 years old when he died on 21st September 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot V. D. 19. of the Dozinghem Military Cemetery in Belgium.

He was the son of Mr. F. Veysey, of 39 Lower Adiscombe Road in Croydon.

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D Waterland 1910-1912.  23rd Battalion London Regiment. 

Private Douglas Waterland was issued with the service number 2563 for his service in 1st/23rd Battalion the London Regiment.

He was 24 years old when he died on 26th May 1915.

His name is commemorated on Panels 45 & 46 of the Le Touret Memorial in France.

He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Charles Waterland, of “Glenmuir”, 4 Brussels Rd., New Wandsworth, in south west London.

His Commonwealth War Grave Commission record proudly states he was a teacher employed by the London County Council who had been educated at the Battersea Polytechnic School and at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, New Cross.

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J Wedgwood 1908-1910 Durham Light Infantry.

Private John Wedgwood had the service number 5968 during his enlistment with the 8th Battalion Border Regiment.

He died on 30th July 1916 and his name is commemorated at Pier and Face 6 A and 7 C. on the Tiepval Memorial in France.

He was awarded the Military Medal for courage and bravery in the face of the enemy.

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F G Weston 1905-1907 Queen’s Westminster Rifles.

Company Serjeant Major Frederick George Weston had the service number 550093 during his time in the 16th Battalion of the London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles).

He died on 28th August 1918 and is buried and commemorated in plot V. D. 26. of the H.A.C. Cemetery, Ecoust-St. Mein in France.

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C E West  1909-1911 London Scottish. 

Private Charles Edward West was issued with the service number 512126 when he enlisted with the 2nd/14th Battalion, the London Regiment (London Scottish).

He was 27 years old when he died on 28th March 1918.

He is buried and commemorated in plot O. 140. in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription: ‘Until the day break.’

He is the son of Thomas Langley West and Mary Jane West, of Ribblesdale House, Thrale Road, Streatham, in south west London.

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L T  Westaway 1913-1915  Royal Fusiliers.

Second Lieutenant Leslie Thomas Westaway was commissioned as an officer into the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers.

He was another Goldsmiths’ College teacher killed on the terrible first day of the Battle of Somme 1st July 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in the plot B. 98. of the Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 2. Auchonvilliers, France.

He was the son of John and Sarah Westaway, of 120 Melrose Avenue, Cricklewood in London.  

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W F Williams 1915-1917 Civil Service Rifles  

Second Lieutenant Walter Frank Williams was a commissioned officer in the 10th Battalion of the famous Welsh Regiment, the South Wales Borderers.

He was 29 years old when he died on 12th September 1918.

He is buried and commemorated in the plot II. B. 15. of the Gouzeaucourt New British Cemetery in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription ‘Loved with an everlasting love.’

He is the son of Mrs. Martha C. Williams, of 55 York Road Aldershot. His CWGC record declares he was a ‘Native of Glastonbury, Somerset.’

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W J Williams 1913-1915 Rifle Brigade. 

Rifleman William John Williams was given the service number S/13369 for his enlistment in the 9th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.

He was 21 years old when he died on 15th September 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot V. I. 5. of the Guards’ Cemetery in LesBoeufs in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription ‘For all of us he did his best. God grant him eternal rest. Dad, Mam, Edgar.’

He was the son of David and Anne Williams, of 188 High St., Treorchy (Rhondda) in the Vale of  Glamorgan.

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F V Wise 1910-1912 Royal Naval Division.

Signalman Frank Vincent Wise was issued with the service number ‘London Z/2954’ for his enlistment in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the First World War.

He was killed on 31st May 1916 when H.M.S. “Invincible” blew up during the Battle of Jutland.

He was 24 years old and because his body could not be recovered his name is commemorated in Section 20 of the Chatham Naval Memorial.

He was the son of Katherine Wise of “Birkrigg,” in the Chesterfield Road, Ashford in Middlesex.

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R A Wood 1910-1912 16th Battalion London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles).

Lance Serjeant Randolph Amos Wood had the service Number 550694 during his time in the 16th Battalion, the London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles).

He was 26 years old when he died on 21st November 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot IV. D. 8. of the Hermies Hill British Cemetery in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone has the personal inscription ‘Hold close to God.’

He was the son of John and Catherine Eliza Wood of 45 Melrose Avenue, Norbury, London.

 

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T V Wood 1914-1916 7th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment.

Second Lieutenant Thomas Victor Wood was a commissioned officer in the 7th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment.

He died on the 4th August 1916 during the continuing Battle of the Somme.

His name is commemorated on Pier and Face 7 C of the Thiepval Memorial in France.

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R J Wood 1910-1912 20th London Regiment.  

Corporal Reginald James Wood was issued with the service number 2187 when he enlisted in the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

He was 24 years old when he died on 21st January 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot I. C. 8. of the Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay in France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the personal inscription: ‘Always Merry and Bright.’

He was the son of William James and Charlotte Ida Wood, of King Edward’s School, Witley, Godalming.

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S M Wright 1908-1910 South African Infantry. 

Sydney Morgan-Wright was born 21st July 1889 and went to Durban South Africa after qualifying as a teacher at Goldsmiths’ College in 1910.

He enlisted as a Private in the 2nd Regiment of the South African Infantry with the service number 12423.

He was 28 years old when he died on 14th October 1917.

His name is commemorated on Panel 16 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

He was the son of Robert Wright of 125, Algernon Road, Lewisham, London, and the husband of Doris S. Morgan-Wright, of 81 Rapson Rd, Durban, Natal in South Africa.

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W T Young Staff Northumbria R.G.A. A full profile of William Thomas Young, his life and contribution to education is available on the Goldsmiths History project site.

Lieutenant William Thomas Young served in the 12th Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

He was killed on 12th July 1917 and was 36 years old.

He is buried and commemorated at plot I.N.3. of the Brandhoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the inscription: ‘He gave himself his all for freedom’s cause greatly beloved.’

He was the son of Thomas and Agnes Young, of Southport, Lancashire and left behind a widow and infant daughter in Lewisham where he was a much respected lecturer in English Language and Literature at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London.

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Engineering Department

R W Bradbury King’s Royal Rifles.  

Lance Corporal Robert William Bradbury had the service number 208 during his time in the VI Corps Cyclist Battalion of the Army Cyclist Corps.

He was 20 years old when he died on 11th June 1916.

He is buried and commemorated in plot I. D. 38. of the Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras in France.

The personal Inscription on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is ‘BERTIE.’

He was the son of Edward and Clara Bradbury of 12 Woodfield Road, Tonbridge in Kent.

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C Dickerson London Scottish. 

Second Lieutenant Charles Henry Dickerson served in the 10th and 11th Battalions of Princess Louise’s Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

He was 32 years old when killed in action at Longueval on the Western Front.

His name is  commemorated at Pier and Face 15 A on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

His name is also engraved on the Loos Memorial at panel 125 to 127.

He was the son of the late James and Isabella Dickerson.

The family home had been 43 Ashburnham Road, Greenwich and he was living with his parents at the time of the 1911 Census.

His father was working as a Presbyterian church caretaker and he was working as a commercial clerk for a galvanised iron manufacturing company in Deptford.

Between 1909 and 1913 he had served as a Territorial soldier in the 6th Battalion City of London Rifles. He had attended annual army training camps at Salisbury, Bordon, Camberley and West Lulworth.

His family received his World One campaign medals: 1914-15 Star, Victory and British War.

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C F Hobgen Royal Naval Reserve.

Able Seaman Cyril Frederick Hobgen had the service number LondonZ/752 during his service in the “D” Company of the Hawke Battalion of the Royal Naval Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Service.

This was effectively Royal Naval fighting as infantry, like the Royal Marines, during World War One.

He died on 10th June 1915 taking part in the Gallipoli operation of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.

His name is commemorated on Panel 8 to 16 of the Helles Memorial in Turkey.

Cyril had been a pupil at Chatham House School in Ramsgate and his name is on the school’s honour board in St George’s Parish Church Ramsgate.

He was born 2nd February 1897 and enlisted as a volunteer on 6th November 1914 at the age of 18 as an ‘ex-Public Schools bugler.’

His family home was 5 Breakspears Road, St Johns, Brockley near Goldsmiths’ College where he pursued further education in engineering courses while working as an apprenticed engineer.

He listed his father George as his next of kin.

His Royal Naval entry card has survived and describes him as being 5 feet eight and a half inches tall, fair complexion, with dark hair and dark grey eyes with a mole on his right breast.

The document even details is chest measurement as I 33″ D. 31″

His family received posthumously his three campaign medals: 1914-15 Star, Victory and British War.

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R H Groves London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers). 

Awarded the Military Cross.

Second Lieutenant Robert Harry Groves served in “C” Company of the 3rd Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers).

He was 21 years old when he died on 12th April 1917.

He is buried and commemorated in plot VII. D. 1. of the Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery in Saulty, France.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the inscription ‘Called to higher service.’

He was the son of Harry and Ellen Groves, of 1 Vanbrugh Terrace, Blackheath, south east London. He was born, brought up and educated in Greenwich, London.

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R D McGroarty. East African Pioneers. 

Pioneer Rowland Dryden McGroarty had the service number 52 in the East African Pioneers.

He was 25 years old when he died in Kenya on 7th September 1914 just over a month after Great Britain declared war on Germany.

He is buried and commemorated in plot II. A. 4. of the Taveta Military Cemetery in Kenya.

Taveta was the scene of the first military action in East Africa between forces of the British and German empires. On 15 August 1914, a German force of about 300 soldiers, led by Captain Tom von Prince, advanced across the border and seized the town of Taveta.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bears the inscription: ‘Farewell but not for ever son and brother dear.’

He was the son of John J. and Henrietta J. McGroarty of South Norwood London.

He bore the letters A.M.I.M.E. after this name which may represent associate member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

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Science Department

W Lonsdale  Machine Gun Corps. 

Private William Lonsdale had the service number 60063 while in the 13th Company of the Machine Gun Corps.

He first enlisted in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, known as the Sherwood Foresters in Nottingham. 

He was 21 years old when he died of wounds on 9th April 1917.

He is buried and commemorated at the Quatre-Vents Military Cemetery in Estree-Cauchy in France at plot: III. B. 14.

He was the son of Samuel and Minnie Lonsdale of 52 Minard Road in Catford south London.

William was born in Dover in 1896 and was brought up and educated in Lewisham previously living with his family at 14 Fordyce Road where the 1911 census discloses he had an older brother Samuel James, younger brother Rodney Henry and a sister Minnie Doris taking their mother’s forename.

William’s father, Samuel, was a commercial traveller advertising chocolate produced by a cocoa manufacturer. 

William’s family would posthumously receive his British War and Victory medals as well as King George V’s bronze plaque and scroll sent to next of kin killed in active service during the Great War. 

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A Rotherham 2nd Fifteenth London Battalion. 

Private Alec Rotherham had the service number 531192 during his time in the 2nd/15th Battalion London Regiment (Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles).

He was 26 years old when he died from wounds received while on active service on 2nd November 1917.

His military record discloses service in a secondary unit, the 179th Trench Mortar Battery.

Alec was killed during either the Battle of Beersheba on 31st October 1917 or The Third Battle of Gaza during the night of the first and second November 1917 between British and Ottoman forces.

This was the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War One. 

In the early hours of 31st October 1917 there had been attacks led by the 60th (London) Division which included Alec Rotherham’s 179th Trench Mortar Brigade. The objective was capturing Hill 1070 that overlooked Beersheba which is now the major Israeli city of Be’er Sheva in the southern Negev region

He is buried and commemorated at the Kantara War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt at plot E. 100.

 

He was the son of Joseph George and Harriet A. Rotherham of 29 Ardoch Road, Catford in south London.  He was born in March 1892 with registration in the  St Olave, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe district.

It is no exaggeration to say that his was a family of white collar workers. 

The 1911 Census shows that this father Joseph George Rotherham was a commercial clerk in a publisher’s office.

At the age of 19 Alec was a Second Division Civil Service clerk in the Inland Revenue, his 17 year old sister Elsie Margaret was training to be a teacher, his 15 year old brother Joseph Clifford was a boy clerk in the Civil Service, also working in the Inland Revenue Department.

At the same time his second sister, 12 year old Hilda Isabel Rotherham, was still at school gaining London County Council scholarships at Lewisham Grammar school, and later obtaining an honours degree and having a longstanding career as a schoolteacher. 

Alec was appointed as a Second Division Civil Servant in 1910 and was promoted to the Board of Trade in 1912 earning a modest annual salary of £85 per annum with the Bank of England inflation calculator value in July 2024 of £8,132.65.

Alec’s First World War army file was destroyed by enemy action in the Blitz of 1940 so the exact details of his army service are not fully known.

However, his battalion was deployed in November 1916 to Salonika for operations in the Balkan Peninsula.

He may have taken part in the Battle of Doiran between Bulgaria and Great Britain in the first week of May 1917 in what is currently North Macedonia.

In June 1917 the battalion moved to Egypt and took part in the Palestine Campaign under the Generalship of Edmund Allenby who commanded the British Empire’s Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

This force would eventually succeed in defeating Turkish Ottoman forces in Palestine and capture Beersheba, Jaffa, and Jerusalem between October and December 1917. 

Alec’s sacrifice in the Great War is remembered on the scroll inside the Civil Service Rifles Memorial at Somerset House, London and his name has been carved in Board of Trade memorial panels which include the creation of a replacement in 2002. 

It is rather impressive that a Board of Trade War Memorial Research Group has taken the trouble to research and write an online biographical profile of Alec Rotherham.

Alec Rotherham would be posthumously awarded the British War and Victory medals and his family further received the special bronze plaque and scroll given to the families of service people who died during the Great War by King George V.

His probate in 1918 awarded to his father was just over £450 which in July 2024 was worth £21,419.43.

Alec’s father Joseph passed away in 1937, his mother Harriet retired to Torquay where she died in 1942 and his brother Joseph Clifford lived until 1968. His school teacher sisters also had long lives. Hilda Isabel died in 1978 and Elsie Margaret in 1980. 

 

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School of Art

S. G Dadd Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Leading Seaman Stephen Gabriel Dadd had the service number London Z/544 during his time in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Specifically he was in the Anson Battalion, Royal Naval Division.

He died on active service 5th July 1915 in the Gallipoli campaign and was 21 years old.

His photograph in Royal Naval uniform was published in a number of newspapers and magazines reporting and commemorating his death including the Marquis de Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour Volume One, Graphic, and Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News.

He is buried and commemorated at the Redoubt Cemetery in Helles, Turkey at plot XI. D. 13.

He was the son of Eva E. Dadd, of 20 Wickham Gardens, Wickham Road, Brockley, London, and the late Stephen Thomas Dadd. He was born in Lewisham and was an artist in civilian life. 

The personal inscription on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is ‘What I gave I have conquered We Conquer.’

Stephen Gabriel Dadd has a substantial obituary entry in The Roll of Honour, A Biographical record of all members of His Majesty’s Naval and Military Forces who have fallen in the War, by the Marquis de Ruvigny, Volume I.,  published by The Standard Art Book Company, Ltd, December, 1916:

‘DADD, STEPHEN GABRIEL, Leading Seaman, Z 544, Anson Battalion, Royal Naval Division, youngest son of Stephen Thomas Dadd, of 26, Sunderland Road, Forest Hill, S.E., Artist, by his wife, Eva Elizabeth, daughter of John Hilton; b. Lewisham, 17 May, 1894; educated Aske Hatcham School, New Cross, S.E., and received his art education at the Goldsmiths’ College School of Art under Mr. Frederick Marriot, Hon. A.R.C.A. (Lond.), A.R.E. He joined the Royal Naval Division on 7 Oct. 1914, after the outbreak of war, left with his Battalion for the Dardanelles on 17 May, his twenty-first birthday, and was killed in action on 5 July, 1915; unmarried.

Petty Officer William Arblaster, writing on behalf of his comrades, said: “He was in my platoon and was liked and respected by all, both by his seniors and by those he was in charge of…. He was killed yesterday morning about 7 a.m., and was quietly buried in the afternoon.”

He early showed a preference for the sculptor’s art, in which he made rapid progress, and in 1912, when under 18, exhibited his first work at the Royal Academy, “Elfreda,” a bust of his sister; and in 1914 he was again represented in the Academy, this time by an animal group, “True Foes Once Met are Joined till Death.” This represented an Indian elephant with his massive head and trunk crushing into the earth, as he kneels over him–a tiger–who, in his last agony, with claws extended, tears vainly at his huge antagonist.

In the 1915 Royal Academy was the portrait bust of “Winnie,” considered by many who are entitled to speak with authority as showing high technical experience. Also in this year’s Royal Academy (1916) he is represented by a group, “Lions and Prey,” modelled by him three years ago. He made many studies of animals and birds at the Zoological Gardens, in which he showed remarkable grasp of form, movement and character.

He was well known as a fine swimmer, being a member of the Lewisham Swimming Club. He won, among other races, the 100 yards junior championship of London (under 16 years) in 1910, the 1,000 yards championship river race of the Lewisham Swimming Club in 1911-12, and on several occasions the old Askean quarter-mile championship. He was, besides, a member of the Blackheath Harriers, and was well known as a good cross-country runner.’

Stephen’s father, Stephen Thomas Dadd, was a freelance artist and illustrator who would also lose a second son killed in action during the First World War. Captain Edmund Hilton Dadd was killed in France on 3rd September 1916 while serving in the Welsh Fusiliers. He was 25 years old and had been the recipient of the Military Cross.

The family homes at 36 St Margaret’s Road, Brockley,  26 Sunderland Road, Forest Hill, and 20 Wickham Gardens, Brockley were consequently the locations of profound grief and mourning for the deaths of two sons during the Great War. And their father, Stephen Thomas Dadd, would pass away at the age of 58 in 1917.

Stephen Gabriel’s sister, Elfreda Dadd, was also a Goldsmiths’ alumni having trained and qualified as a certificated art teacher between 1910 to 1912.

Her first post was an art teacher at the local Ake’s Hatcham School for Girls between 1912-14. She would go on to have posts at schools in Sheffield between 1914 and 1928 and return to London to teach at St Martin’s School in Tulse Hill, South London. 

At the start of the Second World War she was still teaching art and living at 19 Church Street in Leatherhead with her mother Eva. 

She died on 18th December 1948 at the Hospital for Epilepsy and Paralysis in Marleybone. She was 59 years old and had been living at 927 Bushey Park Gardens in Teddington.

She left her estate of £1,970 (having the value of £58,312.91 in July 2024) to transport official Desmond Chilcott Churchill. 

Stephen Gabriel Dadd was posthumously awarded the British and Victory Medals and 1914-15 Star. 

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E P Gibson New Zealand Light Horse

Rifleman Evelyn Perry Gibson had the service number 22790 in the 1st Battalion, 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade during World War One.

He was 24 years old when he died while on active service in France on 13th September 1916 and is buried and commemorated at the Quarry Cemetery, Montauban in France at plot: VI. B. 17.

He was the son of Mr William and Mrs Mary Gibson, of Kawa Kawa Rd., Feilding, in New Zealand. Mary died 7th June 1916 at the age of 55 a few months before her son was killed in action. William Gibson died 28th February 1942 aged 87 years.

Evelyn Perry Gibson is also commemorated online in New Zealand at two websites: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C5456 and https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/evelyn-perry-gibson

Evelyn used his artistic abilities to design and provide illustration to the New Zealand army’s magazine The Crusader.

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C K Howe  15th Battalion Berkshire Regiment

Second Lieutenant Charles Kingsley Howe was listed as being in the 6th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment at the time of his death on the 1st July 1916.

This was the first day of the notorious Battle of the Somme which saw the highest number of casualties for the British Army on any one day.  More than 19,000 men were killed.

His battalion lost seven officers and 84 other ranks who were ‘killed in action’ on the first day of the battle.

Charles was 28 years old and is buried and commemorated at the Carnoy Military Cemetery in Picardie France at Q. 21.

The Beckenham Journal reported on Saturday 12th August 1916: 

‘Writing in the “Kenilworth Magazine,” the Rev. E. J. Barson records that Charles Kingsley Howe was killed on the first day of the advance. He fell leading his men toward the German trenches, conspicuously gallant where everyone seems to have fought with great gallantry.’

He was the son of shipping broker John Foster Howe and Caroline Howe of 9 West Down Road in Seaford, Sussex.

His parents commissioned a powerfully poignant headstone and memorial which is sited at Hither Green Cemetery in Lewisham.

It commemorates Charles, his 24 year old brother Second Lieutenant Arnold Ewart Howe who was also killed in action on 30th October 1917 while serving in the Artists’ Rifles, in the battle of Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium, and three sisters and a brother who died in childhood and infancy.

Ethel Mary Howe died in 1882 when 5 years old. Gladys Eirene Howe died in 1889 and was 5 years old.  Rose Alice Howe was also 5 years old when she died in 1884. Wilfred Macdonald “Dear Little Willie” Howe died in 1882 at the age of one. 

Charles Kingsley Howe’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone is inscribed with the words: ‘Amavimus-Amanus God Is Love.’

Charles had been educated at Bromley High School between 1898 and 1905 and attended Goldsmiths’ College Art School between 1905 and 1908. He was appointed an art teacher at the school in November 1912, and was employed part-time for two and a half days a week.

The College records indicate his appointment was definitive, meaning this made him a permanent member of the Art School staff and was not just hired freelance for the autumn, spring or summer sessions. 

He was officially the ‘Part-time assistant to the instructor in Drawing, Men’ on a salary of £70 per year. The Bank of England inflation calculator estimates this income being the equivalent of £6,697.48 in July 2024.

His staff entry discloses he left his post in August 1914 for military service and would be later ‘killed.’

Online research reveals access to Charles Kingsley’s letters collected by his brother.  He was known by the nickname ‘Ching.’

When a small boy he had a passion for drawing soldiers. He was remembered as a quiet and gentl boy who like to read Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Spencer. He also took great pleasure walking the Sussex Downs for sketching trips and was responsible for creating gentle water colours of the rolling slopes, farmland and villages nestling in steep coombes (steep narrow valleys). 

He received one commission for a book illustration- one of many editions published of The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray.

Ching became friends with Ernest Dawe at Goldsmith’s Art School where they worked together in a shared studio before the outbreak of World War One.  

His letters to his family from the Somme battlefields were full of details about the people and the wild-flowers, rather than the terrible reality of the fighting around him. 

The Reading Mercury newspaper published a short obituary of Charles on 15th July 1916: 

‘SECOND LIEUTENANT CHARLES K. HOWE.

Second Lieutenant Charles Kingsley Howe, Royal Berkshire Regiment (Killed in action on July 1) was the fifth son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Foster Howe of Fairhaven, Lewes. He joined the Artists’ Rifles in September, 1914, went to France with them in January 1915, and received his commission in the following September. A brother officer writes: “All his men loved him, and would have followed him everywhere.” He was a member of the teaching staff of the Goldsmiths’ College Art School, and an exhibitor at the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers. Mr. Edmund J. Sullivan, A.R.W.S., under whom he studied art, writes: “Apart from all personal regrets, common to all who knew him, is the fact that in the loss of Howe art itself loses a most accomplished, delicate, and charming artist, whose work was in an exceptional degree expressive of his character- pure, calm, sensitive, sympathetic, fastidious and sincere. This is evident not only to those who realised his promise, but to any one familiar with his performance.”‘

Edmund Sullivan’s tribute to his former student and colleague continued in the 17th July 1916 edition of the West Kent and Lewisham Borough News: 

“He had showed but little in public exhibitions, but at a little house he had taken at Tanners Hill, New Cross, in his quietly original way, with one or two fellow students a few years ago, his work attracted very favourable notice from discerning critics. He is the second of that little fellowship to fall. He rejoins his friend Reynolds, who had tried hard, but failed, to get into the ‘Artists’ with him- but was killed at Hill 60, nevertheless in the early days. There was nothing of the common idea of the artists as a long-haired aesthete about Howe, even as a student- but a straightforward, modest, and manly fellow, of and with whom one would feel safe and sure.”  The full obituary would also be published in the Reading Observer on 22nd July 1916 and the Woolwich Herald on 21st July 1916.

Charles would be posthumously awarded the British and Victory War medals along with the 1914-15 Star. He left probate to his father the sum of £162 3s 5d which in July 2024 had the value of around £9,450.

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J R Reynolds 9th Battalion London Regiment. 

Rifleman John Richard Reynolds had the service number 3613 during his time in the 1st/9th Battalion London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles).

He was 26 years 0ld when he died 24th April 1915.

His name is commemorated at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial on panel 54 in Belgium.

John had been a fellow art student and friend Charles Kingsley Howe and had wanted to join the Artists’ Rifles but on rejection enlisted with the Queen Victoria’s Rifles.

He was killed during the battle of Hill 60 south of Ypres on the Western Front. 

He was the son of James and Mary Reynolds, of Meadow Cottage, Higher Lympstone, in Devon.

His family would receive his posthumous British and Victory War Medals and the 1914-15 Star.

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Many thanks to the staff of Special Collections and Archives at Goldmiths, University of London including Dr Alexander Du Toit, and staff alumni Pat Loughrey, Ian Pleace and Lesley Ruthven.

The Goldsmiths History Project contributes to the research and writing of the forthcoming That’s So Goldsmiths: A History of Goldsmiths, University of London by Professor Tim Crook.    

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Many thanks to the staff of Special Collections and Archives at Goldmiths, University of London including Dr Alexander Du Toit, and staff alumni Pat Loughrey, Ian Pleace and Lesley Ruthven.

The Goldsmiths History Project contributes to the research and writing of the forthcoming That’s So Goldsmiths: A History of Goldsmiths, University of London by Professor Tim Crook.