Driver Thomas Goodier

Service Number: 97426

"A" Bty. 158th Bde. Royal Field Artillery

Died of Influenza 19th December 1918, aged 20

Son of Mr. & Mrs. Goodier, 60 Hurtley Street, Burnley

From the Burnley Express dated 18th January, 1919: FIVE IN FAMILY ALL CASUALTIES.  Fatal attack of 'Flu

Mr. & Mrs. Goodier of 60 Hurtley Street have had a family of eight, six of whom are boys, and four of them have served their Country in the war.  One has been crippled for life, and, unfortunately, two have fallen, one having been presumed dead, and the other, the youngest of the soldiers has died in hospital from broncho-pneumonia, following influenza.

The latter, Driver Thomas Goodier 97426 R. F. A., who would have attained his majority on the 21st of next month, jined the Army when 16 years of age in August 1914, and went out in April of the following year.  He had been home on leave, and had not been back long when he was wounded.  On November 27 he was shot through the forearm and admitted to hospital on the 28th.  However, he caught the prevailing infection of the 'Flu, and, by means of several telegrams and letters, the parents were kept posted as to the soldier's condition, which became serious, and on December 19 he succumbed to broncho-pneumonia.  He was conscious up to the end, and according to the chaplain's letter, he did not suffer much pain.  Everything possible was done for him.

The deceased soldier - his Mother's best son, was the youngest of the family serving but he was the first to answer the call of his country.  However, he was followed by three brothers and a brother-in-law, so that five members of one household joined the Army.  Before enlistment, Driver Thomas Goodier was a weaver at Thistlethwaite's and was connected with St. John's R. C. Church, Ivy Street.

His elder brother, William of the 10th Scottish Rifles has been wounded and being crippled is now awaiting his discharge.  Another brother, Harry was in the Grenadier Guards and, in Sepember 1916, he was announced to be missing from the day that Lieut. Gerald Arbuthnot was killed.  He has since been presumed dead.

Buried in Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension, Belgium: IV. F. 9