William Henry Goulding was born in Lambeth, London and had arrived in Adelaide by early 1912. A bricklayer, he was married with two children. He appears in team lists for the Magill club in 1912 and 1913, and for Corinthians in early 1914. A match report from July 1913 names him as best player for Magill, but was injured when he was “struck in the face”- whether by ball or fist is not mentioned.
Goulding initially joined the Naval and Military Expeditionary Force on October 31st. 1914. He had militia experience in England and two more children had been born in Adelaide since his arrival. Australians had captured the German outpost at Rabaul in September and now maintained a small garrison there. This was a short term of service for Goulding, and he was discharged in March 1916.
He joined up again in September 1916. He was 31, and was posted to the 50th Battalion on the western front. The Gouldings’ fifth child was born on December 29th 1916, only three weeks before William sailed for Europe on the Militiades. The grim winter of 1916-17 on the western front would have been in stark contrast to the tropical heat of Rabaul. He was wounded at Polygon Wood in September 1917. After recovering and rejoining his unit, Goulding was posted missing at Villers Brettoneux on 24th April 1918, a battle in which many South Australians lost their lives. Goulding was later confirmed as killed in action, but with no known grave.
William’s wife Sarah Goulding died at the Austral Private Hospital, Morphettville in 1976.