1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
Pte 48127 John Gouldbourne
- Age: 38
- From: Liverpool
- Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
- K.I.A Thursday 5th July 1917
- Commemorated at: Railway Dugout B.g. Zillebeke
Panel Ref: Sp.Mem.F10
John was born in Liverpool in the December quarter of 1878 the son of Valentine Young Gouldbourne and his wife Elizabeth (née Halliburton) who were married on the 12th January 1862 at St Peter's and St Nicholas' Church, Liverpool.
On the 1881 Census the Liverpool born Goulbourn family are living at 46 Skirving St, Liverpool. His father Valentine is aged 39, a carter, his mother, Elizabeth, is aged 39, children Margaret 13, Thomas 11, Jane 9, Robert 5, and John 2.
His father died aged 49 in 1890 and was buried on the 02nd April at Walton Park Cemetery. He was unfortunately residing at Walton Workhouse.
On 1891 Census, aged 12, at 105 Oakfield Road, Anfield. His widowed mother, Elizabeth Gouldborne, is aged 49, children Robert 17, a pawnbrokers apprentice, and John aged 12 at school.
He married Adelaide Alice Richards in early 1901 at St. John The Baptist Church, Tuebrook. They had four children: Albert John, Robert Valentine, David, and Elizabeth. Another child, Francis, died age 1.
On the 1901 Census he is aged 22, a grocers assistant, wife Adelaide A. is also aged 22, and they are living with his in-laws at 37 Langham Street, Kirkdale.
The 1911 Census finds the family living at 73 Bligh Street, Wavertree, Liverpool. John is aged 32, an insurance agent, Adelaide Alice is aged 31, are they are living with her mother, Elizabeth Ann Carus, along with two children Albert John 8, and Robert Valentine 6. It records that they have had 3 children one of whom (Francis) has died.
Before enlisting John worked as an insurance agent.
John enlisted in Liverpool and was serving with the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 48127. He was killed in action on the 05th July 1917, aged 38.
He now rests at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground in Belgium where his headstone bears the epitaph:
“PEACE PERFECT PEACE”
The commune of Zillebeke contains many Commonwealth cemeteries as the front line trenches ran through it during the greater part of the First World War.
Railway Dugouts Cemetery is 2 Kms west of Zillebeke village, where the railway runs on an embankment overlooking a small farmstead, which was known to the troops as Transport Farm. The site of the cemetery was screened by slightly rising ground to the east, and burials began there in April 1915. They continued until the Armistice, especially in 1916 and 1917, when Advanced Dressing Stations were placed in the dugouts and the farm. They were made in small groups, without any definite arrangement and in the summer of 1917 a considerable number were obliterated by shell fire before they could be marked. The names "Railway Dugouts" and "Transport Farm" were both used for the cemetery.
At the time of the Armistice, more than 1,700 graves in the cemetery were known and marked. Other graves were then brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries in the vicinity, and a number of the known graves destroyed by artillery fire were specially commemorated. The latter were mainly in the present Plots IV and VII.
The cemetery now contains 2,459 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 430 of the burials are unidentified and 261 casualties are represented by special memorials. Other special memorials record the names of 72 casualties buried in Valley Cottages and Transport Farm Annexe Cemeteries whose graves were destroyed in later fighting.
VALLEY COTTAGES CEMETERY, ZILLEBEKE, was among a group of cottages on "Observatory Road", which runs Eastward from Zillebeke village. It contained the graves of 111 soldiers from the United Kingdom and Canada. It was in an exposed position during the greater part of the war.
TRANSPORT FARM ANNEXE was about 100 metres South-East of the Railway Dugouts Cemetery, on the road to Verbrandenmolen. The graves in it were removed to Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Zillebeke, but one officer, whose grave could not found, is specially commemorated here.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 19th July 1917.
WAVERTREE MAN
GOULDBOURNE - The death is reported of Private John Gouldbourne K.L.R., 38. Before the war he was employed as an agent for Prudential insurance Company. He leaves a widow and four children to mourn his loss. They reside at 73 Bligh Street, Wavertree.
His death was also reported in the Liverpool Weekly Courier on Saturday 21 July 1917:
FALLEN HEROES.
Private J, Gouldbourne, K.L.R., killed in action on July 5th, age 37, went out last December. He leaves a wife and four children who resided that 73 Bligh Street, Wavertree. He was formally employed by the Prudential Assurance Company.
He was reported killed in the Weekly Casualty List 7th August 1917.
KING’S (LIVERPOOL REGIMENT) - Gouldbourne, 48127, J. (Liverpool);
John earned his 2 medals.
When he died John’s sons were 14, 12, and 5 years old, and his daughter Elizabeth Alice was only a few months old.
Soldiers Effects, Army Pay of £2 12s 10d, £3 War Gratuity and Pension of 28s 9d pw went to his widow Adelaide Alice and children.
On the 1921 Census at 73 Bligh Street widow Adelaide is aged 42, and is living with her mother Elizabeth Carus 67, and her 3 children Albert 18, a clerk, David 8 and Elizabeth 4.
John is commemorated on the family headstone at Kirkdale Cemetery, Liverpool as follows:
JOHN GOULDBOURNE
Killed at Ypres July 5th 1917
Aged 38
Adelaide never remarried and, died, on the 06th February 1954.
Probate:-
GOULDBOURNE Adelaide Alice of 73 Bligh Street, Wavertree Liverpool widow died 6 February 1954 at 241 Westminster Road, Liverpool Probate London 8 April to Midland Bank Executor and Trustee Company Limited. Effects £2,123 2s 9d.
John is also commemorated on the following memorials;
Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 47 Right
St. Bridget’s Church, Wavertree.
We currently have no further information on John Gouldbourne. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
Killed On This Day.
(110 Years this day)Wednesday 5th July 1916.
2nd Lieut Lindsay Ramsay Davies
25 years old
(110 Years this day)
Wednesday 5th July 1916.
Pte 17392 Thomas Harry Jones
29 years old
(110 Years this day)
Wednesday 5th July 1916.
Pte 16730 Edward Murphy
20 years old
(109 Years this day)
Thursday 5th July 1917.
Pte 33188 Leonard Cook
25 years old
(109 Years this day)
Thursday 5th July 1917.
Pte 48127 John Gouldbourne
38 years old
(109 Years this day)
Thursday 5th July 1917.
Pte 202845 Edward Roberts
40 years old