Phyllis Mary Gooch was the youngest child of David Lazenby Gooch and Katherine (Kate) Mary Hillstead, who married in the spring of 1880 in the Croydon area. David was an auctioneer and the couple began their married life at Seymour Villas, Anerley Road, Croydon. Phyllis was born in the summer of 1889 and taken to Holy Trinity Church, Penge for baptism on 27 September.
When the census was taken in 1891 the Gooch’s were still living on Anerley Road and David employed three domestic servants to support the household. Phyllis had an older sister and three older brothers. By 1901 the family had moved to 179 Croydon Road. Two of the older boys had left home and the household was supported by a cook and a housemaid. By 1911 the family had moved to Croydon Road; Phyllis and her sister were still at home as well as one of her brothers. Neither of the sisters were going out to work.
Phyllis’ father died in 1916 and her mother moved to Eastbourne with those children still in the family home. Phyllis was keen to volunteer her services to the war effort, possibly accentuated by the fact that at least one of her brothers was serving in the army. She served as a nurse at 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester 28 May 1915 until 27 June 1916 and according to her Red Cross card at Military Hospital, Eastbourne 1 July 1917. This would indicate quite a gap in service, and looking at the date she moved from Manchester, it is possible that the date should have read 1 July 1916. This idea is supported by an obituary posted in the Norwood News in November 1918. Whilst still working at the Military Hospital in Eastbourne, Phyllis contracted influenza in November 1918; complicated by cardiac problems, it developed into pneumonia, to which she sadly succumbed on 6 November, just 4 days before the end of the war.
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