ANZAC Connections: Brigadier General Goddard
The Australian War Memorial is currently undertaking a project to create a comprehensive digital archive of the ANZACs and their deeds, and of the wider Australian experience of war. The collections are selected from our extensive archives and reflect the experiences of Australian servicemen, nurses and civilians during the First World War, not just well-known personalities. This project will digitally preserve the Memorial’s collections as well as provide full copies for research on the Memorial’s website.
As part of this project the Memorial is seeking contact with relatives of the person listed below. If you have any further information about this person, or their descendants, the Memorial would love to talk to you. Please contact Nick Crofts via PubandDig[@]awm.gov.au.
Brigadier General Henry Arthur Goddard CMG, DSO, VD
Collection relating to the First World War service of Brigadier General Henry Arthur Goddard, 17th Battalion, 35th Battalion and 9th Infantry Brigade.
An extensive collection, Brigadier General Goddard’s papers span the entirety of his Australian wartime service and include both official documents and personal letters and diaries. His personal diaries, for 1918 and 1919, recount his experiences in France, describing the battles at Morlancourt, Villers-Bretonneux and the Hindenburg Line offensive, as well as documenting his time spent recovering in Bois Guillaume General Hospital. The personal correspondence, written by Brigadier General Goddard, his son, and other members of the Australian Army between 1917 and 1935, describe events at home, the state of his business and several congratulations on the award of the awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
Brigadier General Arthur Goddard was born on 13 December 1869 in Middlesex, England and migrated to Australia in 1890, arriving in Brisbane. Whilst in there, he established a successful importing firm, H. A. Goddard Pty Ltd, and worked briefly as the consul for Paraguay. At the end of his service in 1920, Brigadier General Goddard returned to work with his son, Horace Leopold, in the family business, remaining actively involved until his death in 1955. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter, Evelyn and son, Horace.