A trophy that was presented to a pupil at Ermysted's Grammar School in 1911 has found its way back to Skipton - and will be re-awarded for the first time next summer.
Headteacher Michael Evans was contacted out-of-the-blue by a lady in Lincolnshire earlier this year - Lauren Windgate - who had tracked down the school after an antique silver cup came into her possession.
“On opening the email, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect,” recalls Mr Evans. “Ms Wingate explained she had purchased the cup from a house clearance sale and been intrigued by the crest of an arm holding a broken arrow aloft. Her internet sleuthing had led to Ermysted’s. Realising that the cup probably belonged to a member of the school, she asked whether we would like it back. I said, we’d be delighted!”
“When the cup arrived, I unboxed it to see that it had been engraved with ‘Senior Hundred 1911’ and the name ‘E G Goodman’”, explained Mr Evans. “The name ‘E G Goodman’ is well known to the school,” he added.
Born in 1894, Eric Goodman joined Ermysted’s in 1909 as a boarding pupil with his brothers Alan and Roy. He made a big impact at the school, most notably as a sportsman, being selected as captain of the first XV rugby team and the first XI cricket side. In 1911, he became the athletics champion and received the cup now returned to the school - for the hundred yard sprint which he won 'by inches only' in a time of 11.8 seconds. He was a genuine all-round athlete.
On leaving the school, Eric entered the civil service and joined the territorial army. When war came in 1914, he entered full-time training and moved to the front in France in 1915.
He saw action almost immediately and progressed to platoon commander and then to bombing officer. Twice wounded in France, the first being a gunshot wound to the head, he spent time convalescing until his return to the front in 1917, just in time for the British Army attack near Arras.
Second Lieutenant Eric Goodman’s role in that battle concerned the objective of an otherwise innocuous spur in a river, one defended by heavy machine guns and battered ineffectively by British artillery in the moments before the battalion’s advance. It was his third time over the top. It was to be his last. He died on 12th April 1917, aged 23.
The regimental history records the last sighting of Eric Goodman ‘in his trench coat on the skyline, waving his stick and urging his men on.’ He was killed by an artillery shell moments later. His body was never recovered and his name is recorded on Ermysted's Roll of Honour of those killed in The Great War of 1914-18.
Michael Evans added: "The trophy has now been mounted on a mahogany plinth turned by school technician Alice Flash. We hope that Ms Windgate will be able to come to Skipton next summer to present the 'Goodman Cup', which will be awarded to the fastest pupil on Sports Day. We hope this new tradition will ensure that Eric's name and achievements at the school more than a century ago will live on for future generations."
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