Nat Gould

Family of Nat Gould

In the 1911 Census Return for Bedfont, Nat Gould and his wife Elizabeth Madeline Ruska and the three older surviving children are listed as living in the family home.

The photograph of the family was taken in 1908 (1).

Nat Gould recorded that seven children had been born to the marriage, two having died. There were, in fact, eight. Unnamed by their father, they were Edith Mary, Gladys Dorothy and Norman Henry, all dying in early infancy.

The two elder sons had left school and were at home, as was the eldest surviving daughter Doris. In the census Nat Gould wrote the name of his eldest son as Sydney Nathaniel, so named at his birth, although he himself spelt his first name as Sidney. He was then his father’s secretary, while his younger brother Herbert Ruska Gould was a clerk in an oil company.

Frederick and Winifred were at boarding schools in Margate on the north Kent coast. Frederick was in a school at 39 - 41 Harold Road, among 45 students ranging in age from 7 to 16 years. Winifred was in a school at 31 - 32 Eastern Esplanade. It had only 18 pupils aged from 9 to 14 years, including three nieces of the headmistress. Both Eastern Esplanade and Harold Road were prestigious addresses in Margate.

The five children in the family of Nat and Elizabeth Madeline Gould who grew to adulthood were Sidney Nathaniel Gould (originally Sydney Nathaniel Gould), Herbert Ruska Gould, Doris Isabel Gould, Frederick William Gould, and Winifred Madeline Gould (2).

(1) The Magic of Sport facing page 236.

(2) Nat Gould: The Biography by Tom Askey (2017) pages 67-72.