James Goodall was born on 3rd of March 1883 at 37 Hill Farm Cottages, Wield, Hampshire. At the age of 18 James was living at 83 Dell Cottage, Medstead, near Alton and was working as a carter on the farm, along with his father. The introduction of mechanization may have been the reason why James decided that there was no future on the farm as a carter because of the introduction of steam engines. So he decided to join the army, maybe along with other lads from the village, they went to Winchester to join the Hampshire Regiment. On 21st April 1904 aged 21 years he enlisted as Private No 7165. After spending many weeks training and square bashing, he was sent on his first tour of duty in 1907 to Londonderry in Northern Ireland.
The 4th Division was a regular division stationed at Woolwich, Shornecliffe near Folkstone and Dover in Kent and Colchester in Essex prior to the outbreak of the war. The 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment was part of III Corps which consisted of the 4th and 6th Divisions, the 1st Hampshire being in the 4th Division, 11th Brigade.
In 1907 he met his future wife, Dorothy Merritt. She was born in Westbourne, West Sussex. Dorothy was 16 years old when she married James in St Mary’s Church Compton, West Sussex. Between them they had raised four children by the outbreak of war (1914-1918), where they living in the Compton West Sussex.
In July 1914, trouble flared up in Europe sparked off by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. This had a profound effect on Britain which was an ally of Belgium, and Britain had promised to defend Belgium under the Treaty of London of 1839. By mid July and August 1914, Germany was pouring troops into Belgium; this became a major threat to Europe and led to the start of what was known as the Great War.
Britain responded by sending an Expeditionary Force to France. James was at Colchester at the time of mobilization on August 18th. The Battalion assembled at Harrow. On August 21st the Battalion left for Southampton docks embarking on the passenger ships SS Cestrian and the Breamaer Castle for Le Havre. They arrived in the early hours of 22nd August 1914 where they disembarked to a rest camp Bleviere just outside town. At this point, most of the men were no doubt hoping that the war would be over by Christmas.
At 12.10pm on 24th August the Battalion boarded trains for Le Cateau. After a short halt at Rouen for an hour they arrived at Le Cateau at 3am on 25th August. From there they marched north-west for six miles straight to Solesmes, to cover the B.E.F Retreat from Mons which was being pursued by overwhelming forces.
They took up position to cover the retirement of the 5th Division B.E.F, after the Battle of Mons. It was very hot and the men, tired after the long journey, found the march very trying.
By 3.30pm on 25th August the 1st Hants received orders to support the East Lancashires. They dug in south of Solesmes around Bellevue Farm, heavy fighting could be heard to the north. Soon they were to be pitched straight into battle and they were retreating. They stopped at the village of Briastre until midnight, when the withdrawal continued. At 3am on 26th August the Battalion reached Le Coquelet, where they bivouaced. It was a very short stay, however, for at 4am the Brigade moved out to take up positions covering Ligny. Two Platoons of B Company remained behind to cover the rest of the Battalion. These two platoons came under heavy artillery fire and sustained 10 casualties. The Battalion occupied a position astride the railway about a mile north of Ligny, near a deep cutting. D and A Companies made what cover they could with their trenching tools.
Heavy firing was heard on the left flank, and the Battalion came under fire. The position was held all day, with D Company suffering heavy casualties and having to be reinforced by C Company, until a counter-attack by A Company which had little effect.
The 1st Hants and the rest of the 11th Brigade held their line all day, but at 3pm the order came to retire, due to a strong attack on the 10th Brigade to their right. The retirement was up a grassy slope back to Ligny. During the withdrawal the Battalion came under heavy fire. However, the German infantry did not advance until the Battalion had concentrated in Ligny. A battery of British guns in Ligny swiftly dealt with their advance.
The Battalion was told to fix bayonets and move at the double, which after a day of fighting they were hard-pressed to do. While the Battalion was resting a strong attack by the Prussian Guard entered the East of the village. The village was held until 6pm, when the Brigade and the guns withdrew to Elincourt, unpursued by the Germans, the Battalion reached Elincourt at 8pm.
The retirement was chaotic, with the roads jammed with refugees and retreating units. From Elincourt they moved south east to Serain, which they reached at 9pm having marched nearly 20 miles in 24 hours. There the men rested, and were given water and bread by the inhabitants. The 1st Battalion suffered its first serious casualties of the war on 26th August 1914. The War Diary records that during the day 3 officers were killed, along with 6 other ranks, 5 officers and 126 men were wounded, and 2 officers including the Medical Officer were missing, along with 40 other ranks. These were figures that were recorded at the time. Any of the men who were recorded as missing were later confirmed as being killed. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment lost 23 men killed at Le Cateau. The British forces at Le Cateau suffered 7,812 men killed, wounded and missing, and lost 38 guns. The battalion was eventually concentrated at Sempigny on 29th August. It reached Pierrefonds on 30th August. They marched on through the Forest of Compiegne and took up a position covering St Sauveur on 31st August. The withdrawal continued into early September until the battalion was behind the River Marne. It then took part in the first Battle of the Marne between 5th and 9th September. For these efforts the regiment was awarded the battle honours "Le Cateau", "Retreat from Mons" and "Marne, 1914".
James must have witnessed many awful things during his time at the front and, like many others who fought in that war, never spoke about it. Trench life was, however, always one of considerable squalor, with so many men living in a very constrained space.
They were only in the trenches for a few days before moving again. These conditions affected the moral of the men who were unable to wash or change for days or weeks at a time. This also created many severe health problems for the troops including body and head lice, frogs by the score were found in shell holes covered in water; they were also found in the base of trenches, these brought with them waterborne diseases as well as spreading other diseases.
There were numerous scraps of discarded food, empty tins, and other waste, overflowing latrines would similarly give off a most offensive stench. Disease was rife, spread by the rats; there were two main types, the brown and the black rat. Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared. Gorging themselves on human remains, flies and maggots thrived on the nearby remains of decomposing human and animal bodies. The stresses of the fighting and risk of being shelled were very high; the trenches would also smell of creosol or chloride of lime, used to stave off the constant threat of disease and infection.
It was during one of these actions that James was wounded (possibly in his lower right arm) somewhere near Ploegsteert Wood. He was taken to a field dressing station near the front. These facilities were crude, but just sufficient to carry out light first aid, give the casualty a drink, and pass him down the chain to an advanced dressing station, situated a few miles behind the lines near to the village of Le Geer. The nature of his wounds were so bad that he was classed as a Blighty case. He was transferred directly to a coastal port in northern France for embarkation to England. In the Hampshire Journal it states he and others were transferred to Edinburgh Infirmary to recover from their wounds. Due to the severe nature of his wounds James did not return to the front, unlike many other poor souls, who went back to the front again.
He was posted to Fort Albany Barracks on the Isle of Wight, from there he came back to the mainland to Fort Gomer Gosport, which was being used for the training of troops in preparation for the trenches. James spent the remainder of his service with the third battalion of the Hampshire regiment which was a reserve unit, he was discharged on 7th of May 1915, being no longer physically fit for War Service.