The Goodliffe Family of Nottingham

Arnold Daniel Goodliffe

Arnold Daniel GOODLIFFE was the only son of Pickering Goodliffe and Margaret MURPHY. He was born in Nottingham in Sept quarter 1874. He attended University School, Southport in 1897 and then went on to King's College, Cambridge, matriculating on 1 October 1897.

He is listed in the 1901 census as a 26 year old boarder at King's College, Cambridge.

Arnold Daniel was a Choral Scholar with a fine voice. He graduated BA in 1900 and MA in 1905. Arnold became Science Master in 1902 and later Headmaster of Richard Huish College, Taunton, Somerset, a position he held until early 1941 when he died of pneumonia. There is further information about Arnold's time at Huish on the school's website under Huish History II and in a book on the School's history.

Several famous people passed through Huish during Arnold's time as Headmaster. One was Arthur C. Clarke, who gave this Tribute:
"I seem to be travelling further and further back in time, but I'd be remiss if I didn't give a tribute to my very first schoolmaster, Arnold Goodliffe at Huish's Grammar School. He was an impressive man in the best Dr. Arnold tradition, and I think filled us all with awe. And later still, my English master, a fiery Welshman, E.B. Mitford, inspired my early writings for the school magazine."

Arnold's Family

Arnold married Sarah Alice MANN, in Carnavon, in late 1903. Sarah was the daughter of Dr Mann, the organist and choir-master at King's College. They had 4 children:

• Arnold and Sarah lived in Taunton for all of their married life. Arnold died in 1941 whilst still the Headmaster at Huish College.

• Arnold's mother (Margaret MURPHY) lived with them some time after 1901 and she died there in 1926.

• Their daughter Sara died in Taunton in 1936.

• Sarah died at Barnet in mid 1955, aged 79.

Arnold is listed in the 1941 phone directory, at Halcon House:

Arthur, Frederick and Edwin all graduated from King's College Cambridge, as their father had. Arthur and Frederick are referred to in various archival records, relating to the choir. Their second cousin Walter Arnold Goodliffe was also in the choir.

Photograph of three generations in King's College Choir - August 6, 1919. Dr Mann was Arnold Goodliffe's father-in-law. Arthur Henry and Frederick Arnold being the twin sons of Arnold.

Arthur Henry

Arthur was born in Taunton in 1904, a twin with Frederick Arnold. He graduated from King's College with BA and then went on to London for a BSc. Arthur then joined British Petroleum. He married Kathleen NOTT in 1932 and a few years later went overseas, first to the West Indies and later to Egypt until his retirement in 1963:

• 6 August 1938 travelling to Curacao, West Indies, on the ship Columbia. Last address in England was Halcon House, Taunton.  Country of intended residence was the West Indies. (view record as a PDF). Arthur's occupation is given as B.Pm likely to mean British Petroleum).

• When war was declared they returned to England via Lisbon and lived at Ewell Downs Road, Ewell during the war years.

• In 1945 he moved to The Hague to help restart the Shell Oil Company.

• 18 January 1951 travelling to Port Said, Egypt on the Strathaird. Address in England was given as 10 Gloucester Rd, New Barnet. However they are noted as usually residing in a foreign country, and their intended future residence is Egypt. (view record as a PDF). Arthur's occupation is now given as Ch. Eng - Chemical Engineer. He worked as Chief Engineer at the Shell Refinery, Suez.

• Later he worked in Japan on new refinery projects.

The consular birth indices have a record for Nigel James GOODLIFFE, born Willemstadt, Curacao in January 1939.

They had another son - Peter Arthur GOODLIFFE born in Ewell, Surrey in December 1941.

There is a patent awarded to Arthur Henry Goodliffe in 1946 for the reaction of sodium with water. It is in the name of the Asiatic Petroleum Company Ltd, of London. (Read the patent in PDF format here.) Asiatic Petroleum was formed in 1903 as a joint venture between British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Petroleum (later to merge with Shell).

Arthur and Kathleen retired to Chard (Taunton), where they are listed in the phone directory for 1963:

Arthur died in Chard on 25 March 1964. His death was recorded in the Times of London:

Frederick Arnold

Frederick Arnold was born in Taunton in 1904, a twin with Arthur Henry. He attended King's College, Cambridge with his brother, and was also in the choir. After graduating BA, he joined the Civil Service and was posted to Nigeria, where he spent most of his working life. He married Doris Francis POTTER in 1932.

There are 11 shipping records for Frederick Arnold and his wife travelling to various destinations in Africa. The record for April 1932 is shown here. (view record as a PDF). The 1932 record gives Frederick's usual residence as abroad, but his wife's is England. As they were married in 1932 this would be her first overseas trip. Frederick is listed as a civil servant and has travelled to and from Africa regularly from 1928.

The 1948 record to Tiko is for Mrs Doris Goodliffe, late of 8 Clifford Ave Taunton. She appears to be accompanied by Mary SELKIRK, occupation Nursing Sister.

Frederick Arnold was awarded the OBE in 1952, as announced in the London Gazette:

Frederick Arnold and Doris returned to Taunton. In the 1953 telephone directory, they are listed at Hazelford, Mt Nebo, Taunton. By 1963 he had became Secretary of the Somerset Rural Community Council, as recorded in the 1963 telephone directory:

By 1967 Frederick have moved to a new address:  Coyden Cottage, Staplehay. He was still Secretary of the Council, but by 1975 this entry had been dropped from the phone listing.

Frederick died in March 1979 and Doris in September 1982.
They had a daughter, Ann, who currently resides in Northwich, Cheshire.

Edwin Ramsay

Edwin also attended King's College, Cambridge, graduating with BA in 1935, as recorded by the Times of London, Wednesday June 26, page 18:

Edwin went on to obtain a PhD in Entomology. I have not discovered much about his career, but he published a series of papers in 1939, probably related to his PhD research. In 1958 he published a paper:

Current Methods of Roach Control in the Annals of Applied Biology, Vol 46 pp102-105.

His address at the time was given as: Ratsouris Limited, Golden Acre, 50 Central Street, London, E.C
Ratsouris was a pest control company set up in about  The company was taken over in 1972 by Rentokil Ltd at a cost of £128.5million. At that time Ratsouris turnover was £200million.

He married Sylvia Henrietta Lorraine  BOWERMAN in Taunton in late 1939. 

The signature of Edwin Goodliffe and Arthur C. Clarke amongst others is on the 1951 Annual Dinner card for the Huish old Boys' Association, (from the Old Huish website).

By 1975 Edwin had returned to the Taunton area, as recorded in the telephone directory. He would have been 62 years old:

Edwin  died in Taunton on 28 February 2002 - his wife's 85th birthday. He was aged 88 years.
Sylvia Goodliffe died later the same year on 3 December 2002, aged 85.

.Sylvia's death certificate shows the informant was her daughter, Lyn Catherine GOODLIFFE.

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Last updated: 31/05/2010