Edward Goodland

Who was Edward Goodland?

Edward Stanley Goodland played first-class cricket for Somerset in 1908 and 1909. He was born at Taunton, Somerset and died at Bristol.

Goodland was a member of a prominent Taunton family involved in the coal trade and in bringing coal to the town by water through improvements to the navigation on the River Tone and the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. The family name is preserved in Taunton in Goodland Gardens, a park. Edward Goodland was educated at Taunton School where he was captain of both the cricket and football teams. As a first-class cricketer, he was a right-handed lower-order batsman. He made an unbeaten 42 in his first first-class innings, in the match against Worcestershire at Taunton in 1908. But in five other innings, he made only five further runs.

In the First World War, Goodland joined the territorial battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and was promoted from second lieutenant to full lieutenant in 1916. The same year he was transferred to the East Kent Regiment as a temporary captain. By April 1917, when he was formally promoted to captain, he had been awarded the Military Cross and was back with the Somerset Light Infantry.