SECOND LIEUTENANT WILFRED CHARLES GOULDEN
MIDDLESEX REGIEMENT
12TH FEBRUARY 1918 AGE 20
BURIED: LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
William Goulden's mother confirmed this inscription, I wonder whether it is her speaking? Somehow these don't sound like the words of either a senior officer or a friend, they are more affectionate, more intimate - who else would address this young officer as "dear laddie"?
Goulden was killed whilst the 2nd Battalion were in the trenches at Belle Vue. Having been out of the line since 16 January they had only just gone in again on 11 February. Goulden, the Battalion Intelligence Officer, was killed the next day but the regimental history gives no details of his death.
Educated at Christ's Hospital, Horsham, Goulden left school in 1916 and straight away took a commission in the Middlesex Regiment. His father too was an army officer. Captain F.C. Goulden served in the South African War - from where he was invalided home in 1902 - and in Nigeria during the First World War.