John Goodwin
John Goodwin was born on 28 Dec 1899, second son to John Hope Goodwin and Julia (nee Hatton) of Burnt House Farm, Wincle. He was still at school in 1911 (presumably Wincle School) but would have started working on the farm shortly after.
Unfortunately we’ve been unable to find any military records which we can definitely attribute to John. Our only clue is in the Absent Voters List for 1919 which records him as having worked at Upton Grange Farm but now back at Burnt House. Unlike the other soldiers on the list there is no indication of any regiment or regimental number. This may indicate that he was declared not fit enough to serve in the forces but was able to work on a farm. In any case as he was under 19 before the end of the war, he would not have been sent to serve abroad. Or they might have decided his experience as a farm labourer – who were in very short supply by 1918 - was more useful than joining a regiment.
Unfortunately we’ve been unable to find any military records which we can definitely attribute to John. Our only clue is in the Absent Voters List for 1919 which records him as having worked at Upton Grange Farm but now back at Burnt House. Unlike the other soldiers on the list there is no indication of any regiment or regimental number. This may indicate that he was declared not fit enough to serve in the forces but was able to work on a farm. In any case as he was under 19 before the end of the war, he would not have been sent to serve abroad. Or they might have decided his experience as a farm labourer – who were in very short supply by 1918 - was more useful than joining a regiment.
John Goodwin on Wincle Absent Voters List Spring 1919
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After the war it seems he decided, like quite a few other young farmers at the time, that he would emigrate to Canada. He arrived in St John’s in April 1920 intending to make a career for himself as a farmer in Ontario. However, in the census of June 1921 he was living on his own working as a labourer and he returned to England and Burnt House Farm in August that year.
In 1926 he married Nellie Bailey from Biddulph and settled in Rushton at Ashmore Heath but unfortunately died aged only 31 in January 1931 (possibly another indication of fragile health?). He is buried in Rushton Churchyard. John’s elder brother Charles also served in the war and is remembered on the Wincle Memorial. Credits The Goodwin family |
John Goodwin’s immigration document for Canada in April 1920
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