Company Sergeant Major William Goddard

Army Number: 158

Battalion: 1/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment.

Awards: M.M. Military Medal.

Born and lived at Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire. Son of James and Maria Goddard, of Stoney Middleton; Husband of Gertrude Goddard, of Vicarage Road, Stoney Middleton. He was a Shoemaker for Cocker Brothers of Stoney Middleton prior to enlisting on 2nd April 1908 at Stoney Middleton. He was appointed Lance Corporal on 20th October 1908, promoted Corporal on 8th May 1909, promoted Sergeant on 12th May 1911 and Company Sergeant Major on 30th July 1911. He went to France on 28th February 1915 and was mentioned in Despatches on 30th April 1916, was awarded the Military Medal (London Gazette dated 19th February 1917). Killed in action, on 1st July 1916, aged 33, during the attack on the German positions at Gommecourt, France, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Buried: Foncquevillers Military Cemetery, France. Plot 1. Row L. Grave 14.

Company Sergeant Major Goddard is also commemorated on the following local memorials:-
St. Martin’s Church War Memorial, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire.