Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Isaac was known as Ike. He was the son of John and Rebecca Goodsell. He was born in NSW in 1878. His birth registration states Ulladulla District. Ike was born in Milton according to the Oz-Boer Database. He excelled at cricket according to their bio. He would have been a valuable team man. For he was not just a first rate wicket keeper, but a useful batsman. Every cricket team needs someone like that. For good wicket keepers are a rare commodity. Ike excelled in the Cobargo District Cricket Association. However all that changed when the Boers attacked the Empire on 11 October 1899.

Constable Goodsell, as he was at the time was amongst the first to volunteer to serve oversees. Ike was as a Policeman when the was began. However, within two weeks he was mobilized as part of a NSW Field Hospital Unit. He was on his way. The First NSW Medical Corps contingent departed from Sydney on 28 October 1899. Ike likely joined the Medical Corps because it was the first to be mobilized. For the NSW Lancers were training overseas when the war began. Hence, the NSW Medical Corp's First Contingent was immediatley dispatched from Sydney. To support the NSW Lancers who would be rerouted to South Africa.  

However, he soon found that disease was the real enemy. Ike was not immune. He wrote to his brother when he thought that his was recovering from his first bout. He told him that the Field Hospital's associated  cemetery no longer dug graves. They dug trenches. 

Ike did not recover from his second bout. The Imperial Yoemanry Hospital in Deelfontein recorded his death in his unit's Hospital on 6 June 1900. Lest We Forget.