15618 L/Sgt Albert Edward Gooderham, 11th Bn, Essex Regt

15618 Lance-Sergeant Albert Edward Gooderham of the 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment, was killed in action on the 12th January 1916. He was born in Norwich but enlisted at Stratford, east London, probably around mid November 1914.

Neither Albert's medal index card nor his entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Debt of Honour register record either of his first two names. The former however, notes that he was a lance-corporal when he arrived in France on the 30th August 1915, and a corporal at the time of his death. Soldiers Died in The Great war notes his rank as acting lance-sergeant, whilst CWGC gives the rank (or appointment) of lance-sergeant.

Albert is possibly the same man whose birth was registered in Norwich in the March quarter of 1883 - indeed, I can find no other match for him. This would have made him around 32 years old at the time of his death. If this is the same man, he was the son of Philip and Martha Gooderham, and appears on the 1891 census with his parents and two step-sisters, living at 16 Edinburgh Road, Heigham, Norwich. I have been unable to locate him on the 1901 census.

Albert is buried in the Potijze Burial Ground Cemetery in Belgium.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, BMD, 1891 census)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War