- See James Frederick Goodess’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about James Frederick Goodess? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you.
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: J. F. Goodess
Born: 29 May 1864 in Leicester
Date of Death: 26 November 1917
Age at death: 53
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: Royal Navy
Unit, Ship, etc: HMS President
Enlisted: 24 November 1879
Rank: Acting Gunner (Service No: )
Decorations: Long Service and Good Conduct Medals
War (and theatre): WW1
Manner of Death: Died On Active Service (DOAS)
Family Details: Husband of Emily Goodess, “Myhome”, Devon Drive, Sherwood, Nottingham
Residence:
Home Department: Board of Trade – Labour Department (Yorkshire & East Midlands Division)
Civilian Rank:
Cemetery or Memorial: Portsmouth (Kingston) Cemetery (Grove’s 5.2); Board of Trade War Memorial; Ministry of Labour War Memorial
Biography:
James Frederick Goodess was born on 29 May 1894 in Leicester. His parents were James Adcock (1836-1922) who was a porter and Mary Ann (1839-1905). James had four brothers – David Henry Goodess (1866-1934), George Goodess (1867-1946), Joseph Goodess (1876-1940) and John William Goodess (1880-1949) and a sister, Lydia Jane Goodess (1876-1940).
In the 1871 census, James is living with is parents and siblings at 12 Dunkirk Street, St Margarets, Leicester. Ten years later, aged 16, in the 1881 census he is recorded working as a Boy 1st Class on the vessel the “Royal Adelaide” based at Stoke Damerel.
He married Emily Elizabeth Grant (1876-1965) on 25 December 1899 in Melcombe Regis, Dorset. They had six children – four girls and two boys – Dorothy May Goodess (1903-1960), James Frederick Goodess (1907-1992), Elsie Constance Goodess (1908-?), Ronald George Goodess (1909-2001), Kathleen Goodess (1910-1911) and Winifred Lydia Goodess (1910-?).
In the 1911 census he is recorded as a Royal Navy Pensioner and is running the Creykes Arms Hotel (now The Green Inn), 50 High Street, Rawcliffe, Yorkshire. At some point between 1911 and 1914 he joined the Board of Trade, working in the Labour Department for the Yorkshire and East Midlands Division.
At 53, James Goodess was among the oldest Board of Trade staff to die on active service during the Great War. Like J Brown and W F Skinner, he was a naval reservist and so called up immediately on outbreak of war.
James Goodess had originally volunteered at Portsmouth at the age of 15 and served continuously in the Royal Navy until aged 39 in March 1903. During this time he had been rated consistently highly in terms of character and ability, had risen from Boy 2nd Class to Chief Petty Officer, acquired qualifications in gunnery and torpedo and been decorated for Long Service and Good Conduct. He had also acquired 4 more inches in height (to 5’5″) and darker hair and complexion.
As a member of the Royal Fleet Reserve, he subsequently trained for one week each year at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth. His civilian occupation during this period is not recorded, but at some stage he became a civil servant at the Board of Trade. As a naval reservist, he was called up, aged 50, in August 1914 and served continuously until his death in November 1917. His ships are recorded as Victory 2-25 August 1914; Excellent 26 August 1914 to 4 April 1917; President III DAMS (rated as Temporary Acting Gunner) 5 April to 7 November 1917. He was promoted to Warrant Officer on 7 November 1917.
James died suddenly on 26 November 1917 of heart failure due to pneumonia in Portsmouth. A short report was published in the Leicester Daily Mercury about his funeral, which was conducted with full naval honours.
James Goodess is also commemorated on the Memorial to Staff of the Ministry of Labour, now hanging in Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1. His gravestone is in the Portsmouth (Kingston) Cemetery and his grave bears the simple inscription “At Rest”.
(Information and photograph of James Goodess at the top of this page courtesy of N J Goodess)
Board of Trade War Memorial 