{"id":5485,"date":"2016-06-13T11:33:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T11:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plattwarmemorial.org\/?page_id=5485"},"modified":"2024-06-01T16:00:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-01T16:00:26","slug":"cecil-goodsell-1895-1916","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/world-war-one\/cecil-goodsell-1895-1916\/","title":{"rendered":"Cecil Goodsell (1895 &#8211; 1916)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h3 class=\"title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;--fontSize:24;line-height:1.5;\">Pte Cecil Goodsell (1895 &#8211; 1916)<\/h3><\/div><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-dropshadow imageframe-1 hover-type-zoomin\" style=\"-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/cecil_goodsell_headstone.jpg\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[a7e8e3eb5b3cb807b7c]\" data-title=\"Pte. Cecil Goodsell (1895 &#8211; 1916)\" title=\"Pte. Cecil Goodsell (1895 &#8211; 1916)\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/cecil_goodsell_headstone-209x300.jpg\" alt class=\"img-responsive wp-image-8731\" srcset=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/cecil_goodsell_headstone-200x287.jpg 200w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/cecil_goodsell_headstone-400x575.jpg 400w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/cecil_goodsell_headstone-600x862.jpg 600w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/cecil_goodsell_headstone.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><\/a><\/span><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cecil Goodsell was born in Hawkhurst on 14 October 1895, the third of nine children to James Goodsell and his wife, Harriett (n\u00e9e Saunders.) His father was a farm bailiff, meaning he was a middleman between the landowner and the tenant farmer &#8211; acting as an agent for the former and ensuring the latter ran the farm correctly and paid the rent on time. If not, the bailiff had the power to evict the farmer. As such, the family frequently moved around and, by the time Cecil was six, lived in Hale in the parish of Horsmonden before Tudely in 1909 (where Cecil and his two younger brothers, Frank and William, attended Capel Council School) and Goblands Farm in Hadlow by 1911. After leaving school, Cecil worked as a farm labourer and, before the war, lived with his parents and siblings at Ford Farm in Wrotham Heath.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 22 November 1915, Cecil lived near Dartford in Southfleet and presumably worked on a local farm when he enlisted at the recruiting office in St. Swithin\u2019s Lane, London. He joined the 19th (Reserve) Battalion, King\u2019s Royal Rifle Corps and was recorded in a medical examination as being 5\u2019 7\u201d in height, weighing 128lbs, with good physical development. The Army passed Cecil fit for service and sent him for training in Andover.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 28 January 1916, Cecil transferred to the 17th (Service) Battalion (British Empire League) King\u2019s Royal Rifle Corps. At the time, the battalion was camped in Witley, Surrey, and formed part of the 117th Infantry Brigade in the 39th Division. Towards the end of February, the Division departed for France with Cecil\u2019s unit entraining at Milford on 7 March for <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Southampton,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> where they sailed for Le Havre on board the SS <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Princess Victoria<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Upon arrival in the small hours of the following day, the battalion joined the brigade, concentrated in Steenbecque, before eventually marching off towards Estaires and then Bac St. Maur. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On the evening of 20 March, the riflemen took over the front line at Rue du Quesnoy. However, within a month, Cecil left the trenches suffering from scabies\u2014a common affliction amongst men serving at the front. He was admitted to the Scabies Hospital in Colonne before being transferred to No.4 Stationary Hospital in Arques to recover. Cecil was eventually discharged back to duty on 15 April and rejoined his unit at B\u00e9thune after they returned from a short tour in the trenches at Cuinchy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">At the end of April, Cecil was back in the front lines, this time in the Festubert area, and when the Somme offensive began on 1 July, based in trenches south of Richebourg, known as Richmond Terrace. On the night of 5\/6 July, he formed part of a wiring party that ventured out into No Man\u2019s Land. At the time, the Battalion War Diary mentions enemy snipers being active, and possibly Cecil was killed by one of these while carrying out the task. His body lay where it fell until 1920, when it was exhumed and reburied with military honours in Le Touret Military Cemetery near Richebourg-L\u2019Avoue. Cecil\u2019s personal effects and medals (British War and Victory) eventually found their way to his mother, who by 1918 had lost another son to the war and was living in Crouch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cecil\u2019s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> name was added<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to the Platt War Memorial in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Headstone photograph courtesy of Gary Neate<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Scott Wishart<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5485","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5485"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10339,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5485\/revisions\/10339"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}