The son of a Devon solicitor, Henry Goldsmith was educated at Sherbourne School before going to up to Jesus College Cambridge where he became one of the college’s finest oarsman, and in 1906 was elected president of the Cambridge University Boat Club. He was a member of the winning Boat Race crew in 1906 and 1907 and in the first of those years, was also a member of the crew that enjoyed a memorable victory over the Harvard eight. He won a bronze medal with the British eight at the 1908 Olympics, when he replaced the original choice, and fellow Jesus man, George Fairbairn.
In 1909 Goldsmith was commissioned into the 5th battalion, Devonshire Regiment (Territorials), and was sent to the front in March 1915. On 9 May 1915, Goldsmith was one of the many British casualties killed on that one day, in the Second Battle of Ypres. His wife Sybil gave birth to their only child, daughter Elizabeth, born three months after Henry’s death.
Great Britain