Richard Gosling

Richard (Dick) was the son of Herbert and Mary Gosling (née Knowles). His parents were married at Nottingham St Mary on 21 August 1871 (J/A/S Nottingham). They had eleven children two of whom, Ada and Lavinia, died in infancy. With the exception of the youngest child, Ellen, who was baptised at Daybrook St Paul, they were all baptised at Hucknall Torkard St Mary Magdalene. The chldren were: Elizabeth Ann b. 1872 bap. 20 June 1877; Valentine birth registered 1874 (J/F/M Nottingam) bap. 20 June 1877; Ada b. 1876 bap. 20 June 1877 d. 1877 (A/M/J Basford); George b. 8 December 1877 bap. 25 December 1877; William b. 2 October 1879 bap. 24 November 1879; Richard b. 1881 bap. 22 September 1889; Thomas b. 10 February 1883 bap. 3 March 1884; Herbert b, 1885 bap. 22 September 1889; Arthur b. 17 March 1888 bap. 22 September 1889; Lavinia Gertrude b. 1891 bap. 21 June 1891 d. 1891 (J/A/S Baford) and Ellen b. 31 October 1895 bap. 9 February 1896. In 1891 census Herbert and Mary were living in Arnold with their eight surviving children, Elizabeth Ann (19), Valentine (17), George (13), William (11), Richard (9), Thomas (8), Herbert (5) and Arthur (3). Lavinia was born later that year but died in infancy and the youngest child, Ellen, was born in 1895. The family was living at Redhill, Arnold, by 1901 but had moved to Mansfield Road, Daybrook, by 1911; only Herbert and Mary's youngest children, Arthur and Ellen, were still living at home. Richard was recorded on the 1901 Census as a railway cleaner and living as a boarder at 94 Curzon Street, Netherfield. He enlisted in the Grenadier Guards later that year nominating his parents and two siblings as his next of kin: Valentine Gosling, Burford Street, Arnold and Elizabeth Ann Pringle, Milton Street, Edinburgh. Richard joined Nottinghamshire Constabulary as a police constable after he transferred to the Army Reserve and served initially at Arnold Police Station. Richard married Mabel Ethel Parker in 1906 (J/F/M Spilsby Lincolnshire). Mabel was born in Derbyshire on 23 January 1879 but by the time of the 1901 census was living with her parents on Church Street, Arnold. Richard and Mabel had three children: Chrystal Audrey Parker b. Sutton in Ashfield 26 August 1907 (J/A/S Mansfield), Wilfred Henry Parker b. Wellow 25 March 1909 (A/M/J Southwell) and Stanley Richard Parker (otherwise Richard Stanley Parker) b. Wellow 12 May 1913. Their first child was born in Sutton in Ashfield in 1908 and it is possible that Richard had transferred from Arnold to a police station in Sutton in Ashfield. However, by 1911 he and his wife were living in Wellow, Nottinghamshire, with their two children, Chrystal and Wilfred. Their youngest child, Stanley, was born two years later. At the time of Richard's death in 1916 his wife and children were living at 43 City Road, Beeston, Nottingham, but the later CWGC record gave her address as ‘Woodthorpe’ Westfield Drive, Skegness, Lincolnshire. By 1939, though, Mabel was living at 23 Glendon Drive, Sherwood, Nottingham, with her three unmarried children; Audrey (sic) who was secretary to a woollen manufacturer's managing director, Wilfred who was incapacitated and Richard (sic) a tailor's salesman. Mabel died on 24 September 1976; she was still living at 23 Glendon Drive. Audrey, of the same address, died on 24 September 1983, Wilfred in 1982 (J/F/M Nottingham) and Richard on 16 May 1982; he was then living at 2 Nelson Road, Daybrook, Nottingham. Of Richard's family: His mother Mary died on 3 September 1933 (buried Redhill Cemetery), she was living on Mansfield Road, Daybrook. Elizabeth Ann (Pringle) was living in Edinburgh when she died on 22 March 1954. Valentine may have emigrated to America and died there. George probably died in 1943, William probably died on 11 September 1942, Thomas in 1967, Herbert in 1954 and Arthur in 1971. Ellen Webber, her husband Frederick, their children and her widowed father, Herbert, were living together in Arnold in 1939 when the England and Wales Register was compiled. Herbert died in 1945 and Ellen Webber on 32 September 1976; she was living in Daybrook.