GOULD, Francis William

Francis Gould was the son of Henry and Catherine Gould of 13 Nelson Road, Dudley. He attended Claughton School and volunteered for the Worcester Territorials. He served in the 1/7th Battalion and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant to the same Battalion. They went to the Western Front in April 1915 and saw much action in the next two years in Artois and on the Somme, where they fought tenaciously at Ovillers and the Leipzig salient. In the Spring of 1917 they followed up the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and their most successful action was the storming of ‘The Mound’ at Templeux-Guerard. They came back into the front line for the October battles of Third Ypres. At great cost the German troops had been pushed back some way towards Passchendaele and on the 9th October began the Battle of Poelcappelle. A mile to the south of the village and in pouring rain and deep mud the Worcesters attacked at dawn. They made initial progress but the conditions prevented mobility and many died under fire. Among those killed in action on that day was Second Lieutenant Francis Gould. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot, Dudley and Claughton school Memorials.