GEORGE GOODIER
Extract from “THE MILITARY AT NEWBURY”
An article in the Newbury Weekly News of 5th September 1872
The rifleman who died so suddenly yesterday morning at Silchester, was buried this morning with military honours in the Cemetery at Newbury. The poor fellow, whose name was George Goodier, had been 18 years a soldier in the Rifle Brigade; his age was 40, and he died of heart disease when grooming his master’s horse in early morning. The body was brought on to Greenham and remained for the night in the field hospital marquee of the division.
The funeral procession started at nine. Before the coffin — which was covered with a Union Jack which yesterday had been flying from the church tower of Newbury, and which had been hauled dawn for this purpose when the churchwardens learned there was no Union Jack with the division - marched the band of the regiment, playing the Dead March.
Between the band and the coffin marched the firing party with arms reversed, and the coffin was followed by the whole of the regiment, marching in fours. Slowly the mournful procession wound down the hill under the shadow of the spreading beech trees, on to the pretty Cemetery situate at the entrance to the town. It passed into the burial ground and on to the spot where the grave was dug, along a lane the sides of which were formed by the people ot Newbury.
Curiosity as to the details of a military funeral was not potent enough to overcome the respectful decorum which was the universal characteristic of the throng. The officiating chaplain was the Rev. Mr. Collins, the divisional chaplain. When the coffin had been lowered into the grave, the firing party fired the customary three volleys, and the regiment, having paid the last tribute of respect to a comrade, marched back into camp. |
