Willie Goodall was born in Batley, Yorkshire, England, on the 26th October 1881, the son of Fairfax and Emma Goodall (née Broadhead). His family home was at 99, Halifax Road, Staincliffe, Batley, and on completing his education, he found work as a ‘rag grinder’, which was also the occupation of his father.
On the 16th February 1907, he married Beatrice Lockwood in Batley, and the couple set up their home at 93. Halifax Road, Staincliffe, Batley. They had two children, Leonard, born in England in 1908, and Jack, born in the United States of America in 1914.
On the 12th August 1911, Willie, Beatrice, and Leonard arrived in New York City, having sailed from Liverpool on the
Carmania. Accompanying them on the voyage were Mrs. Florence Lockwood, and her children, Clifford and Lily. Florence was married to Beatrice’s uncle, Dick Lockwood, who had immigrated with his family to Kearny, New Jersey, in 1906. Florence Lockwood had been to England to visit relatives in the summer of 1911, and the Goodall family had decided to join them there.
The Goodall family hoped they would find work and prosper in Kearny; however, work was not as plentiful as they had hoped, and William Goodall was forced to take a job as a labourer.
In the spring of 1915, the Goodall family decided to return home to Yorkshire and having booked as third class passengers on the
Lusitania, they boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, on 1st May 1915 in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure. Florence Lockwood and her children also decided to return to England with them, accompanied by Florence Lockwood’s niece, Edith Robshaw, and the eight of them travelled together.
The Lusitania’s departure was postponed until the early afternoon whilst the liner loaded cargo and took on board passengers and crew from Anchor Liner the S.S.
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship at the end of April.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed by the German submarine
U-20, twelve miles off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and sank within eighteen minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was a mere twelve or fourteen hours away from her Liverpool destination and home port.
The entire party of eight people was wiped out as a result of this action - not one of them surviving – and only the body of Lily Lockwood was recovered and identified afterwards. As a result, none of the other seven has a known grave. Willie Goodall was aged 33 years at the time of his death.
The local press in Yorkshire was under the mistaken belief at the time that he alone had survived the sinking.
The Yorkshire Observer, for instance reported on 10th May: -
Owing to slackness in New Jersey, Mr. Goodall had determined to return to England, but almost at the last moment before the departure of the Lusitania, he obtained a good situation and consequently did not accompany his wife and children home.
Unhappily for Willie Goodall, this was not the case.
Cunard Records state that his name was William; however, his birth, baptismal, marriage, and census records all record his name as
Willie.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, England Select Births and Christenings 1538 – 1975, West Yorkshire Non-Conformist Records 1646 – 1985, West Yorkshire England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1813 – 1935, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Bradford Daily Post, Yorkshire Observer, Leeds Mercury, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.