Name
Thomas Shirley Gooch
1864
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/12/1918
54
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Commander
Royal Navy
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BROOKWOOD CEMETERY
182599.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
[None listed on CWGC but photo shows inscription "IN SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE".]
UK & Other Memorials
Memorial Plaque, St Lawrence Church, Bovingdon, Memorial Hall Plaque, Bovingdon, Not on the Thorley Memorial
Pre War
Thomas Shirley Gooch was born in 1864 in St James, London, the son of Thomas Gooch, J.P. and Emma Gooch, and was baptised in Thorley, (near Bishops Stortford) Hertfordshire on 1 July 1864.
On the 1871 Census the family were living at Bovingdon Green House when his father's occupation was a Wharfinger [keeper of a Wharf] and Warehouse Keeper. The household also included his sister Evelyn, two cousins, Emma and Constance, a Governess and eight servants.
He joined the Royal Navy in 1877 and was on HMS Britannia as Midshipman by 1880. On the 1881 Census, Thomas was a 16 year old Midshipman in the Royal Navy serving on HMS Monarch which was in Malta harbour. He was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant in 1884 and Lieutenant on 1 October 1887. He served in the Egyptian Campaign (1882-89 - for which he was awarded the Egyptian Medal) and resigned to the Emergency List of Officers on 29 April 1892.
Thomas married Amy St. John Etheridge on 3 January 1899 in St James, Piccadilly, Westminster. His address was then given as 55 Jermyn Street. On the 1901 Census they were living at Sloane Court in Chelsea and his occupation was given as Warehouse Keeper.
1902 Kellys Directory lists him as a private resident living in Bovingdon, Herts.
His son Neil Cyril Shirley Gooch (baptised as Nathaniel) was born on 5 October 1903 and baptised on 11 November 1903 at St Paul's Church, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London.
He was living at 16 Regency Mansions, Hastings before the war.
Wartime Service
Thomas' commission was restored to Lieutenant on the Emergency Officers List in January 1914 and following the outbreak of war he was promoted to Commander on 1 April 1915.
He was appointed to the Inspectorate of Steel as Commander in April 1915.
He was killed on 11 December 1918 as a result of an accident while on duty at Elswick Works, Newcastle-on-Tyne and is buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
Additional Information
His widow and Percy Willis Russell, solicitor, obtained probate of his estate in London on 26 November 1919, with effects of £10102 1s 4d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Dick West
