Able Seaman GEORGE FREDERICK GOODYEAR

17, Milverton Road, Winchester
Service number – unknown. Mercantile Marine Reserve
Drowned while serving on HM Yacht Zaza, 12 March 1917

Family Background

George Frederick Goodyear was born in Bethnal Green, east London, on 10 September 1888, the eldest of the four children of George and Alice Goodyear. George Goodyear Snr was born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, in 1861. In late 1887 he married Alice Simmons in Bethnal Green, east London. Alice had been born in nearby Shoreditch in 1867.

The 1891 Census recorded George and Alice living in Deptford, south-east London, together with George Jnr, who was nearly three years old. That same year, Alice gave birth to a second son, Albert, who was followed by Frank in 1896 and Lilian in 1898. All the children were born in London.

By 1901 the Goodyears were living in West Ham in the east London borough of Walthamstow where George’s father was employed as a ‘foreman of carriers’. By 1911 the family had moved to another address in Walthamstow. George, his father and brother Albert were all working as clerks while brother Frank was a jeweller’s assistant.

In late 1912 George Goodyear married Clara Hyder in West Ham. Clara, a dressmaker, was the daughter of master plasterer Harry Hyder (1851-1913) and his wife Elizabeth (née Bewick, 1849-1923). Harry and Elizabeth had married in Edmonton, north London, in 1874 and had gone on to have six children, including Clara who had been born in 1881. The Hyders were recorded living at different London addresses in the census returns of the late 19th Century, but all within the Leyton area.

George and Clara Goodyear are believed to have moved to Winchester shortly after marrying - the 1914 Warren’s Winchester Directory lists ‘G.F. Goodyear’ living at 17, Milverton Road. George had found work in the city with Hampshire County Council, possibly as a clerk. The house at Milverton Road was one of a number owned by the Winchester Working Men’s Housing Society, which had been founded in 1911 to provide affordable homes to rent in the city. Among George and Clara’s neighbours was George Lever, who was living with his mother-in-law at 11, Milverton Road. He served with the Hampshire Regiment in the Great War and was killed in action in Flanders in October 1914. See George Lever’s biography.

Great War Record

We know few details of George Goodyear’s wartime military career, largely because he served with the Mercantile Marine Reserve (MMR) and was not issued with a service number. Thus, we do not know for certain his date or place of enlistment or medal entitlement. Also, the history of the MMR before and during the Great War is a neglected subject which further shrouds George’s military career in mystery.

The years before the outbreak of war had seen the British Admiralty significantly expand its reserve forces. By 1914 these numbered some 18,000 officers and men of the Royal Naval Reserve, all of whom were trained in war duties, plus the 170,000 men of the MMR and 100,000 fishermen. At the beginning of August 1914, 147,667 men served with the Royal Navy; in November 1918, when the Armistice was signed, it had been increased by some 200,000 officers and men, in addition to making good a wastage of about 80,000. These recruits came largely from the MMR and fishermen.

At the time he that died, George Goodyear was serving as an Able Seaman aboard HM Yacht Zaza which had been requisitioned by the Admiralty as an Auxiliary Patrol Vessel on 29 September 1914. Zaza had been built on the Clyde and was launched in 1905. During the war it is believed the vessel may have served as an Auxiliary Patrol Group Leader or been a part of special yacht squadrons, at home or in the Mediterranean. Zaza weighed 423 tonnes and was armed with one 12-pounder gun and two 6-pounder anti-aircraft guns. She left Royal Navy service on 30 March 1919 but was requisitioned again in the Second World War before being scrapped in Southampton in 1952.

George Goodyear drowned on 12 March 1917 while serving on HMS Zaza. He was 28 years old. We do not know exactly where he died but, given that he is buried in a British cemetery, it was almost certainly in British waters.

Family after the Great War

George’s name does not appear in the Winchester War Service Register of 1921, probably because his wife Clara had returned to London when the Register was being compiled and she was therefore not in Winchester to supply the necessary details. Clara was recorded living at 32, Colchester Road, Leyton, at the time of her husband’s death. She died in Surrey in 1948, aged 68.

Medals and Memorials for George Frederick Goodyear

Able Seaman George Frederick Goodyear’s medal entitlement is unclear since it is not known whether he ever entered a theatre of war. He was buried at Queen’s Road Cemetery (right), Walthamstow, London E17 (GR. C06. P. 120A), which contains graves from the Great War. One assumes that he was buried there at the request of his family, who lived locally. George is mentioned on the memorials at St Matthew’s and Paul’s churches, Winchester, and his name also appears on the Hampshire County Council Memorial in Winchester, although it incorrectly states that he served with the Royal Navy.

Researchers – CHERYL DAVIS and DEREK WHITFIELD