RICHARD GODDARD
Near to the north gate of the cemetery there is a gravestone which is rapidly deteriorating. It is to Richard Goddard, who died 3 November 1875 aged 78, his first wife Ann Whistler Goddard and his son John. In fact Ann was not buried here, but in St Nicolas churchyard in 1857. And John died at Cholsey Mental Hospital aged 48 in 1882. He was buried in the same grave as Richard, but only commemorated by the initials J G.
Richard was born in Brimpton, the fourth child of Richard and Catherine Goddard and was christened at St Peter's there on 6th December 1797. Richard, his father, died in 1805, leaving his mother Catherine to raise ten children alone, the eldest, Susannah being 12. Richard married Ann Whistler of Aldermaston in 1823. He is recorded on the baptism records of their first four children as a school teacher at Aldermaston school.
From 1831 he tried his hand at running a public house "The Pineapple" in Brimpton. However, the pub belonged to Winchester College and was only leased to the other Goddard family in Brimpton, who lived at the estate called "Blacknest". When the "Blacknest" Goddards sold up and moved to Yorkshire the lease of the Pineapple was not renewed. Richard had to look for other work. In the 1841 census he is a Land Measurer, presumably helping measure land for the Enclosures Acts.
Sometime after this he moved with the family to Newbury and became licensee at the "New Inn" in the Cattle Market. In 1846 his wife Ann, died from complications from giving birth to her twelfth child. With ten surviving children to be looked after and a pub to run Richard took another wife, Ann Patience Dicks of Bucklebury.
Returning to the children of Richard the elder and Catherine his wife; the next youngest child to Richard was William born in 1799. William had a son, George, who worked his way up through the police force to become a Police Sergeant in the Newbury Borough Police in 1868.
On 30 June 1870 the Newbury Weekly News reported on a court case in which Richard the publican was accused of "neglecting to maintain his wife, [Ann Patience Goddard] who had become chargeable to the Common Fund of the Newbury Union.". Richard explained to the court that he was in the process of handing over the pub to his son Richard.
Richard senior's son Richard had also been in the police force in Walworth and Croydon but had returned to Newbury with his wife Sabina to help his father. Richard further explained that he had rented two rooms in town into which he intended to move, but his wife had refused to join him. She had instead moved in with Police Sergeant George Goddard and his wife Elizabeth. Richard complained that at a time when he was away from home some of his household goods had been removed to the house of the Police Sergeant. Richard said that he was quite willing to support his wife if she returned to him. The court declined to interfere in what seems to have been a martial disagreement carried to extremes. In the 1871 census Richard was still living at the pub, with his son Richard and his wife running it, but he described himself as "a widower". This was not the last time that Police Sergeant George Goddard was in conflict with his uncle and cousin. In 1874, just after new licensing hours had been passed, he charged Richard junior, who was now landlord of the New Inn, with supplying liqueur after hours. The case was dismissed. Richard died in 1875 and was buried in the Cemetery, aged 78 on 3 November that year. Ann Patience Goddard died aged 72 and was buried 2 May 1883 her body being brought to the Cemetery from Hannington.
Further notes: 1. According to Berkshire FHS George, the Police Sergeant died in 1887 and was buried in the Cemetery on January 31. He had in fact lost his position in the police force when Newbury Borough Police were taken over by a County Police Force.

2. Ann, the first child of Richard junior, born in 1824, married Richard Rolfe an eminent eminent Newburian, and was buried in the Cemetery 4 February 1881, aged 56. 3.

Information on the family has come mainly from Sue Knight of Ontario, Canada, a descendant of Jane, daughter of Richard and Ann Whistler Goddard, born 1825.

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