A bugler will play and a coffin will draped in the colours of the Grenadier Guards when the funeral of a former Derby landlord takes place later this month. Edward Goodall, known as Ted, who acted as pall-bearer at the funeral of George VI and received the Royal Victorian Medal, has died aged 91.
A tribute has been paid to Mr Goodall, who ran The Half Moon in Littleover for 18 years, by Grenadier Guards on their website which said: “It is with great sadness we report the death of Mr Ted Goodall who has passed at the age of 91. He was a great supporter of the Derby Branch. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time.
“We thank him for his service in our great regiment and may he rest in peace.”
Mr Goodall joined the King’s Company of the regiment in 1951 for his national service and had no idea that, just months later, he would be escorting the coffin of the king – one of eight selected to do so. During the time that Mr Goodall was training and rehearsing at Sandringham, he met a future king – Prince Charles – who was at that time just three years old and who tried on Mr Goodall’s bearskin helmet, which he later said ” was almost as big as the prince himself”.
The funeral duties included escorting the late King to King’s Cross, ready to be moved to lie in state in Westminster Abbey, and then a few days later to escort the late monarch to Windsor Castle where he was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel.
Mr Goodall during his time in the Grenadier Guards
(Image: Submitted)
Mr Goodall was one of 323 people who received the Royal Victorian Order for their part in the funeral, which he was awarded by the new Queen. He told his family “I was on cloud nine and oblivious to everything that was going on around me after the presentation”.
His daughter Mandy Halstead said that her father, who was born in Sheffield and lived for a time in London with his theatrical parents, before eventually coming to live in Derby via York and Winchester on the way, spoke fondly of his time in the Grenadier Guards. She said: “He also took part in the Queen’s Coronation. He met my late mum, Kath, who was a Wren, in 1952 and they later married in 1954.
“He left the Army and became a policeman in York, where Kath came from, for a while, but then in 1959 decided to go back into the Queen’s Company of the Grenadier Guards. It meant we travelled around a great deal as he was a weapons instructor. We moved back to Derby and my dad became landlord of the Half Moon pub, which my grandmother Laura had been running since 1955 after she had run the Derwent Hotel in Derby from about 1950.”
Mandy said that her father had always wanted to run a pub. She said: “He loved pub life. He was very sociable and so it suited him very well. He was such a well-known figure among the customers and in the village. He was a real party man and very intelligent and well-read.
Mr Goodall with late wife Kath
(Image: Submitted)
“It was an extremely busy pub in those days and he won several awards for the best barrelage and best-kept cellar. Of course it was where we lived as well and so it was important to make a real go of somewhere that was your home as well as your business.”
But he gave up the pub to move to Spain in 1991, were he lived for 16 years before returning to Littleover to live to be closer to his family, including Mandy’s late sister, Susan, who died in 2016. Her mum died in 2022. Mr Goodall had been in a care home for the past few months after he left hospital and had become frailer.
Mandy added: “We are immensely proud of him as a man and as a father and he was very proud of his family. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.”
Mr Goodall also leaves son-in-law David, grandchildren Daniel and Lucy and great-grandchildren Jack, Shay, Willow and Ivy. He was also an uncle and brother and will be missed by his many nieces and nephews.
The funeral service will take place at Markeaton Crematorium on Friday, January 24, from 10am. Anyone who knew him is welcome to attend the service. Family flowers only but donations may be given at the service in aid of the SSAFA The Armed Forces Charity in memory of Mr Goodall – which was a charity close to his heart.