Name
Arthur Goldsmith
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
38281
Gloucestershire Regiment
4th Bn.
1 Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Arthur appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school. Parish records suggest only one man of this name who could have served, and he was born on December 11th 1880 to Henry and Ann Goldsmith (née Baynes or perhaps Baines). He would have been thirty-four at the outbreak of war. Baptism records list fourteen children: Elizabeth (bapt 1864), Frederick (bapt 1865), Abigail (bapt 1867), Martha (bapt 1868), Alice (bapt 1870), Peggy (bapt 1871), Albert (bapt 1873), James (bapt 1874), Frank (bapt 1875), Charles (bapt 1876), John (bapt 1878), Arthur (b 1880), Peter William (b 1882) and Rosetta (bapt 1891). The 1911 census records them living at 11 Cromwell Terrace - the terraced row, which now contains the village stores – and adds Gwendolin Clara (b c1909). Peter died, aged sixteen months, so Arthur was the youngest member of the family who could have served. A John Goldsmith also served and survived, but it is unclear whether it was Arthur’s brother or the brother of Edward Goldsmith.
The Parish Magazine of June 1917 records him as serving in the 3rd Essex Regiment, but the 1918 Absent Voters’ List records him as Private 38281, 1st Company, 4th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, with his home address given as 11 Cromwell Terrace.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
