Pte. F. Gooding 2nd Btn 3rd Regt.(Mounted Infantry)

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Pte. F. Gooding 2nd Btn 3rd Regt.(Mounted Infantry), died of fever at Helpmekaar - Memorial Inscription (Haselbury Plucknett)
Photo's By Tim Needham.

Inscription relating to Frank Gooding;

"AND ALSO FRANK THEIR
BROTHER OF THE CAPE
MOUNTED RIFLES
BORN JULY 3 (?) 1856
ESCAPED FROM ISANDULA
DIED OF FEVER AT LADYSMITH
ZULULAND MARCH 4 (?) 1879

From Tim Needham.

I took of the Gooding family headstone in Haselbury Plucknett in Somerset on which there is a memorial inscription to Private Frank Gooding of the 3rd Regiment, attached to the Mounted Infantry (wrongly recorded as 'Cape Mounted Rifles'). The inscription (added below) describes him as a survivor of Isandlwana, but I've not seen him listed as such in any of the books on the subject. Any chance you could post this on the website incase anyone can shed any light on this? (I believe this headstone was rediscovered by the Keynsham Light Horse).

Hi Pete.
Found this in the wonderfully researched " England's Sons " by renowned researcher Julian Whybra .
Gooding was in fact a member of No 1 sqdn of mtd Inf that was with the 3rd ( centre column ). Julian has him
listed as a possible survivor , according to family tradition he was present and escaped from Isandlwana . The headstone
says he died at Ladysmith , where in actual fact it is Helpmekaar and is buried there in an unmarked grave . Julian
goes on to say he was one of 36 volunteers from the 2 / 3rd Regt to join the 1ST SQDN MTD INF. He may have
remained in camp or could have been with Chelmsford . The family members may have got information directly from
Gooding or a comrade in the form of a letter ( which may have been misinterpreted ) . Alternatively he may be a geniune
survivor . Now the book states 10 survivors listed at Helpmekaar on the 24th also in the official returns , Julian goes on to
say if Gooding was there he would have or should have been on that list . He also goes on to say . " In short , all IMI survivors
corroborate each other's escapes . However , Capt . Stafford NNC records an additional unknown IMI survivor who escaped on foot , and Lt Davies NNH seems to be describing the same man . Trp . Shannon NMP also records encountering a mounted infantryman on the Fugitives trail . Could one or all of these be Gooding ? .

This is a very detailed book and well worth having . The contents and footnotes are quite detailed , if you want detail and
a referance for those at Isand and R.D this is for you , I will post a link where it can be obtained , bear in mind it is a A4 sized
soft cover binded folder , but its what"s inside that counts . I do not know Mr. Whybra so this isnt a free plug to boost sales.

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cheers 90th

Thanks 90th. I already have a copy of England's Sons. Excellent book. Well researched.