Sometime between the 1901 census when he was living with his parents and two brothers, and that taken ten years later, Arthur had married Eliza and they had a 10-month-old son, Alfred. Eliza was from Handforth in Cheshire and she seems to have gone back there while Arthur was away at war because that is the address the army has for her. The first mention we have of Arthur in the war is a piece in the Shipley Times & Express on 26 November 1915 about the family’s war effort: Three sons of Mr and Mrs Raistrick Goldsborough of 13 Cobden Street, Bradford Road, Idle, have shown their willingness to serve their king and country in the present grave crisis. Their eldest son, Pte Arthur Goldsborough of the King’s Royal

Rifles, resided at Thackley. He is married and has three children. Formerly he was associated with the Idle Brass Band and is now rendering good service as a member of the band connected with his regiment. Then after paragraphs about Mathew and Tom, the piece concludes: Mrs Goldsborough strongly believes that all serviceable men should do their ‘bit’. The other day her husband, who is 58 years of age, received – no doubt as a result of somebody’s mistake – a communication asking him to join the forces under Lord Derby’s Scheme and Mrs Goldsborough jokingly remarked,

“By gow, if yo’d nobbud been a bit young’r yo’d ha’ shown ‘t slackers up!” On 15 June 1917, the newspaper reported: Bandsman Arthur Goldsborough, son of Mr and Mrs Raistrick Goldsborough of 13 Cobden Street, Idle, has been killed in action. Bandsman Goldsborough, who was 36 years of age, joined the forces nearly two years ago and he had been in France for some time. Before the war he was a member of the Idle and Thackley Band. He used to live at Thackley but his wife and four children now reside at Handforth, Cheshire. His officer wrote: It is with deepest regret that I am writing to inform

you of your husband’s death from wounds received whilst carrying wounded behind the lines with the remainder of the band. “I should have written before but unfortunately no one had his address so I had to wait until the arrival of some correspondence from you. “I obtained your address from your parcel that arrived today and which has been shared out amongst some of his comrades as he would have wished. “He received practically the full force of a shell which burst near him, fracturing his thigh and hip and he died in the advanced dressing station after lingering only an hour or two. “The remainder of the band are still up there so I am afraid I cannot give you any further details until a later date.”