Alfred E Goodrich in a 'Small World'

[Philip Roberts]

Hello everybody,

I read, with interest, the article dated 26th October 2011, entitled 'It's a small world' by our Education Officer.

It started my grey matter rumbling again.

On 3rd July 1955 Mr Alfred E GOODRICH (my uncle, married Alice Mary GROSART in 1918) retired from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
At his farewell party he was presented with a silver tray with lots of autographs engraved on it. I have numerous photographs of this event and the silver tray.

My question is:- does anyone know anything about this event and, hopefully, the location of this silver tray?

They lived in Mellwood Road, Liverpool, opposite the, now, Liverpool FC training ground.

[MaryA]

Hilary's "small world" was the connection of two names never previously thought of as being close.

Do you have any names of those in the photographs? My suggestion would be to type names on this forum as entries are picked up by search engines and you may find somebody searching for a name will come across your post.

To find out anything about the event, if it was a big occasion, I would suggest a look at some of the Liverpool Echo archives and see if it was reported.

Also, perhaps get in touch with the School of Tropical Medicine and see if there are any archives kept that you could look at, such as a staff journal where such events may have been recorded.

[Philip Roberts]

Thank you for your message. The point that you raise about names will give me more to work on.

Regarding the Liverpool School etc. I have been there. They were extremely helpful. They gave me copies of so much they have on "Goodrich" - as he was known - together with photographs of the event that I was very pleasantly surprised at just how much they knew about him. I have thanked them.

I will refresh my memory from the above mentioned information and post some more in due course.

My uncle was described as "the only non-academic to own a car" - "if something needed doing leave it to Goodrich". The engravings of signatures are of very senior staff of the time. I learnt a great deal about my uncle prior to his retirement, but, sadly, know nothing about him or his family after that event.

I would like to trace the silver tray and either obtain it for myself or restore it to a more worthy place. I have photographs of my uncle, his wife (my Aunty Alice) his car and of the the tray but I do not know how to attach a photograph to a message.

[MaryA]

To show a photograph in your message

It's lovely to have such a collection of memories. Do you know if they had any children? if so the tray may have been passed down in the family. If you don't know, then perhaps we can try and figure out the family, although it would be appreciated if you didn't give names and dates out of any that you suspect may still be living.

[Philip Roberts]

I thank everyone for their support and interest. My initial inquiries simply related to my mothers' side of my family, Grosarts. Upon the demise of my grandmother I met my Uncle Alf and his wife, Aunty Alice (my mothers' sister), at the funeral. Although I was young at the time I could not fail to be impressed by the good manners etc. of this man. He was very impressional to me with his quiet way of going about everything. After the funeral I had no more contact. When I started researching my ancestry so many years later it was necessary to inquire about Aunty Alice. My only route was the info. I had that Uncle Alf worked at the Liverpool of Tropical Medicine. I went there and was quite amazed at the info. they had together with photographs of his retirement party. The photographs include my Aunty Alice so I was on top of the world with this 'discovery'.
It is not, and never has been, my wish to probe into the lives of living people. If they come to the surface after reading about my interest then I see that as a bonus. However, the photographs clearly show the silver plate Uncle Alf was presented with. Our Education Officers' message about a 'Small World' re kindled my interest and I simply wondered about the silver plate. As I have previously mentioned I would love to obtain it, but I respect that other people may well have more title to it than me. Just to trace it would initially satisfy me.

[dickiesam]

Hello Philip,
I well recall your Grosart searches. With regard to that silver tray I would hope it is in the safe keeping of one of Alfred's descendants. To find it you will have to trace as many descendants as possible and approach them, starting with those 'nearest' to Alfred.

Such a tracing would have to be off-forum and I am prepared to help. I enjoy tracking down the living as much as the deceased. Send me a PM if you want to have a crack at a trace.

DS

[Philip Roberts]

Hello again to everyone, particularly to people who had assited me to trace my Uncles retirement silver tray. I am now satisfied that I know where the tray is and that it is where it should be - with a relative. I do not wish to develope this point further for reasons of privacy, security and confidentiality. Suffice to say that without your assistance I could well have been groping around in the dark. You good people have come up trumps once again and I thank you.

[MaryA]

Thanks for the update Philip, I'm glad a family member has the tray and hopefully treasures it.

Thanks also to DS who I suspect has given you a lot of assistance behind the scenes.

[Philip Roberts]

Yupp!