Newton-le-Willows and Earlestown War Memorial

In Memory of

Private Alfred Thomas Goodwin

S/9800
“B” Coy. 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders
Killed in Action 25th September 1915 Age 23

At the battle of Loos, Private Alfred Goodwin was "engaged with the Scottish Brigade, which got smashed up at that awful engagement",* according to his obituary in the "Newton and Earlestown Guardian" of 15th September 1916. He was officially reported missing after the engagement of 25th September, but only presumed killed a year later.

Private Goodwin was the son of John and Mary A. Goodwin of 21, London Row, Vitriol Square, Earlestown. He was employed in the automatic shop at the Vulcan Foundry. As a boy he attended the Roman Catholic School, and was a member of the Catholic Young Men's Society.

He joined the Army at Warrington on April 17th 1915; the military surgeon at Earlestown would not pass him for the Territorials. But Army life in a short time cured him of a disablement he was suffering from, and so satisfied was he with the "cure" that he signed up for 21 years' service. He put in his training at Aberdeen, and went to France on July 6th 1915. He was a storekeeper in his regiment, and Loos was practically his first and only engagement.

Private Goodwin's is on the Loos Memorial, which commemorates over twenty thousand officers and men who fell in the area, but who have no known grave. The Memorial is in Dud Corner Cemetery which is about five kilometres north-west of Lens. The cemetery, which is said to have gained its name from the number of unexploded shells in the area, almost stands on the site of a German strong point, the Lens Road Redoubt, captured by the 15th (Scottish) Division on the first day of the battle.

* In fact, the 2nd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders was with the 7th Division, while the 1st/5th, 8th, 9th and 10th were with the 15th (Scottish) Division.