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Alfred
John Gooch
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Tracing your family tree is a popular activity these days and we get lots of enquires about families at the Ludham Archive. This enquiry was a bit different and it went like this:
Dear Ludham
Archive
Alfred John GOOCH born in 1893 at Hedenham, Norfolk, became a gardener at How Hill in April 1911. He came from the Hansborough-Jones at Attleborough, where he had worked for three and a half years. He enlisted for service in WW1 in August 1914. We do not know if he worked at How Hill from 1911 to 1914. We were wondering, having looked at the photos on your website, if there are any photos of the staff in which he may be included. Hoping that you may be able to help with our Family History. I have a photo of him from WW1 and after the war when he joined the Coventry Police Force.
Alfred John GOOCH born in 1893 at Hedenham, Norfolk, became a gardener at How Hill in April 1911. He came from the Hansborough-Jones at Attleborough, where he had worked for three and a half years. He enlisted for service in WW1 in August 1914. We do not know if he worked at How Hill from 1911 to 1914. We were wondering, having looked at the photos on your website, if there are any photos of the staff in which he may be included. Hoping that you may be able to help with our Family History. I have a photo of him from WW1 and after the war when he joined the Coventry Police Force.
Now, the Ludham Archive has scanned all the Boardman family photographs from this period, but the Boardmans were not given to taking photographs of the servants at How Hill. So we spent some time trawling through the photographs looking for suitable candidates, and then we came up with this:
The picture shows the Boardman children as so many do, but who is the young man behind them on the left? He looks like he might be the right age and does appear to be one of the staff at How Hill. So we sent the picture to the family and got this reply:
I am
delighted to say that having forwarded a copy to Alfred's
daughter, we
can now say that the young man in the photo is that of -
Alfred John
GOOCH, who is her father. Thank you for your help and
providing the
family with a delightful photo of him.
Here is the picture of Alfred a few years later in the uniform of the 6th Bedfordshires.
There is more information about the wider Gooch connections with Ludham on this link.
