William Goodliff Scotcher
William Goodliff Scotcher (1890-1918)
1918 Obituary [1]
Captain WILLIAM GOODLIFF SCOTCHER, M.C., R.F.C., was born in London on 17th March 1890, and was educated at the East London Technical College.
He served a five-years' apprenticeship at the Great Eastern Railway Locomotive Works, Stratford, after which he was employed for a year and a half as a fitter on breakdown work in the running sheds and subsequently in the Drawing-office.
In April 1913 he went to the Argentine to take up a position as locomotive draughtsman on the Central Argentine Railway, and later in the same year he became an assistant locomotive superintendent on the Northern Section of that railway. Owing to the sudden shortage of coal in September 1914, he converted all the locomotives in his Section from coal to wood burning, and in the following month he sailed for England to join the Forces, eventually becoming a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.
He saw service in Gallipoli, Egypt, and France, and was awarded the Military Cross at the Battle of the Somme.
Latterly he was engaged on the home front, and while flying in Kent his machine fell, owing to engine trouble, and he was instantaneously killed at Bekesbourne Aerodrome, near Canterbury, on 15th September 1918, at the age of twenty-eight.
He was elected a Graduate of this Institution in 1912, and an Associate Member in 1918.
At the time of winning the Military Cross he was the youngest Freeman of the City of London to gain this coveted honour.