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Memorial
FOR HARRY GOLDSMITH
Harry Goldsmith was born in Dover on 7 March
1896, the son of Henry Goldsmith and his wife Emma
(née Ladd). The couple also had three daughters, Ethel, Edith,
and Mabel. In 1901 the family were living at 14 Dixon Road,
Dover, and Mr Goldsmith was working as a stoker.
Harry joined the Navy in
March 1914. He was lost on 20 January 1918, when his Monitor,
the HMS Raglan, was attacked by the cruisers Goeben and Breslau.
The Raglan sank in shallow water.
A family story states that
just six men survived, bringing home the log book, bullet-riddled flag, and
the tale that as the Raglan sank the men still on board sang
"Rule Britannia".
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Harry, with two of his sisters,
Edith and Ethel. They are standing outside their
home at 3 Seaview Terrace, on Bunker's Hill, one of the steepest hills in
Dover
It was at this address Harry's mother received
the news of her son's death. |
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Harry with his older sister
Mabel.
She
always spoke of the day he died, and remembered him
as a "quiet, inoffensive boy". |
| Below is believed to be the last
picture ever taken of Harry, when they were coaling
up. Mabel received the picture after her brother had
died. |
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Left are Harry's parents in
Barham church, beneath the flag that was brought
home from the Raglan. It was eventually taken
away to be restored, but never returned.
Harry has no known grave, and
is commemorated
on
the Chatham Naval Memorial
Harry's parents at home. Mrs
Emma Elizabeth Goldsmith died on 15 October 1943
at 8 Hillside Road, her daughter's home, "after
many years of suffering patiently borne" |
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below: Emma Ladd with her mother
Footnotes:
During the Great War, Mabel, born 29 April 1893, worked for Scott's the dyers,
washing soldiers' uniforms in benzene. Her husband, Albert
Butterfield (see
Whitfield Fallen),
whom she had married on 15 August 1915 at St Andrew's,
Buckland, was killed on 7 June 1917, serving with the Royal
Field Artillery. Albert's younger brother, Alfred John, had
died the month before, on 3 May 1917. He is commemorated on
the Arras Memorial. The family suffered a third tragedy when
another brother, Robert Redvers Butterfield, serving in the
Hampshire Regiment as a Private, fatally crashed into a car
after losing control of his cycle at the bottom of the
Whitfield Hill on 30 April 1921. Their grandmother is
believed to be Jane Cruttenden, who died the year before, on
8 April 1920, aged 64.
Mrs Mabel Florence Butterfield, aged 24,
remarried on 12 January 1918 at St Andrew's, Buckland, to
Charles Arthur Cloke, 34, who was then serving as a Private
in the Machine Gun Corps. Sadly, she was widowed again when
Mr Cloke died on 19 June 1921. Mrs Cloke married for the
third time on 20 October 1923 at Barham church, Kent, to
Albert Laurie Jarvis, a plasterer's labourer.
Ethel Goldsmith, born 22 March 1899, married Thomas Pilcher,
born 23 August 1895. They were living at 8 Hillside Road
when he collapsed and died suddenly whilst at work on the
Military Hill on 12 December 1940. Living in 1939 with them
were Edith, her sister, and their mother, Emma.
Edith's husband,
Charles Richard Puckett, served during the Great War in
the Royal Navy, including service on the Hood. He recalled
how he sailed past the wreck of the Raglan, seeing the mast
in the water. Known as a cheerful joker, he was killed in
World War II, during the evacuation of Dunkirk. His tug, St
Abbs, was bombed at 09.50 on 1st June 1940, and sank within
45 seconds.
with grateful thanks to Ethel
Puckett and Harry Jarvis
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