20th Hussars
Lewis Stanley Goode was the third son of Henry (a quarryman) and Arabella Goode and he was born at Mitcheldean in 1891. He was one of a large family of children and at the time of the 1901 census he is shown, along with brothers George and Alfred, as living with a family called Bircher, in the Coney Hill district of Gloucester. Mrs Bircher was his elder sister, Elizabeth. Possibly this was an economic arrangement. His father appears to have died in 1904 and his mother in 1912.
Unfortunately, Private Goode’s Army Service Record has not survived, however, his Medal Index Card at the National Archives shows that he went to France on 16 August 1914. The conclusion we can draw from this is Lewis joined the Army well in advance of the start of the Great War, possibly around 1908, when the 20th Hussars were posted to Ireland, where they stayed until 1911. They then returned to England and to their depot at Colchester.
The 20th Hussars landed in France, with 24 Officers and 519 Other Ranks and, being a cavalry unit, were sent to cover the gap between the British and French infantry divisions, during the retreat from Mons. According to the funeral report in the Gloucestershire Journal of 10 April 1915, Private Goode was wounded in the left hand and right arm in September 1914 and was repatriated to Colchester. He was recuperating when he died ‘after a brief and painful illness’ at the Military Hospital, Colchester, on 31 March 1915, age 23. A recently released Pension Record Card states the illness to have been meningitis.
His body was conveyed to Gloucester for the funeral and interment. The principal mourners were his sister Elizabeth and her husband but amongst the other mourners is a Miss Winstone, who is described as an ‘intimate friend’. On 2 October 1915 an Ellen Winstone married a George John Goode at Gloucester. Did Lewis’ girlfriend turn to his elder brother after his death? George served with the Army Service Corps and survived the war.
Private Goode is buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave. He is also commemorated on the Gloucester Cenotaph Screen Wall.
Researched by Graham Adams 12 June 2014 and revised 28 July 2021