Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Acting Stoker Petty Officer W. J. Goodfellow, Royal Navy, who served in H.M.S. Barham at the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916

Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1908-10 (295150. W. J. Goodfellow, Sto. 1Cl, H.M.S. Proserpine.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (295150. W. J. Goodfellow, Sto. 1Cl. H.M.S. Proserpine.) nearly very fine and better (2) £240-£280

William John Goodfellow was born in Salisbury on 5 July 1880. A carter, he joined the Royal Navy as Stoker 2nd Class on 1 April 1900, and was raised Stoker aboard Andromeda and Stoker 1st Class aboard the pre-dreadnought battleship King Edward VII. Transferred to the cruiser Proserpine on 22 September 1908, Goodfellow witnessed active service off the coast of Somaliland and anti-gun running operations in the Persian Gulf. Promoted Acting Leading Stoker aboard Bulwark, he served aboard Duncan in the opening months of the Great War tasked with the Northern Patrol. Transferred to the battleship Barham on 19 August 1915, Goodfellow was present at the Battle of Jutland and witnessed heavy engagement during the run to the south; Barham fired 337 fifteen-inch shells and 25 six-inch shells during the battle, scoring a large number of hits upon the enemy, including a large-calibre strike upon the German battlecruiser SMS Von der Tann. She was struck 6 times herself, suffering 26 killed and 46 wounded.

Raised Acting Stoker Petty Officer on 10 May 1917, Goodfellow was transferred to Portsmouth, and it was here that he died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar on 1 March 1918.