Pte Jack Henry Gould
Missing presumed Killed 27 July 1916
Jack was born on 15 July 1889 and was baptised by Fr. Wilson at St Michael’s on 2 August the same year. He was the second eldest son of George and Jane Gould, long standing Chiswick residents. Jane his mother lost three sons in the War, George (1884), Jack and Alfred (1894). At the 1901 Census he appears as “John”, aged 11 at the family home at 59 Windmill Road. He cannot be positively identified at the 1911 Census – he certainly was not resident at the family home in Chiswick. However, it seems he must have volunteered before the end of 1914. It is noted that he enlisted at Fulham and was placed in the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, number 3/8016. His Medal Card indicates that he first travelled to France on 11 March 1915, though his Battalion, part of the 15th Brigade of the 5th Division had mobilised in France at the outset of the War. He may well have been present in the front line during the Second Battle of Ypres and the Capture of Hill 60.
The Battalion were moved to the Somme and were in position near Montauban by 16 July 1916. It moved forward for the operations at High Wood on 21 July – it was at the Pommiers Redoubt on the 25th, and in action again on 27th at Longueval. It came under heavy bombardment while forming up for attack, the Commanding Officer noting that “ ‘A’ Company could hardly muster a single platoon, most of the rest having been buried by the shelling”. Jack must have been killed during this attack – his body was never found. Between between 21 July and 29th July the Battalion sustained 429 casualties.
Jack is remembered at the great Thiepval Memorial for those with no known grave, on Pier and Faces 1 C and 1D. His mother would have received his 1915 Star, War Medal and Victory Medal.