Francis Goodall was born in Clewer, Berkshire on 14th August 1896 to Rebecca Goodall. By the age of four Francis and Rebecca were living with his grandmother in Davis Street, Hurst. Francis attended Hurst Infants School and at the age of seven he became a pupil at Hurst Boys School.

Francis enlisted into the army in Reading on 31st August 1914 and was assigned to 5th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment along with Arthur Hale, George Hayward and Ernest Lloyd. Brock Barracks was overwhelmed by the sudden inrush of volunteers and by 8th September conditions were called 'a disgrace to the country' in a complaint forwarded to Lord Kitchener. There were 2000 men in accommodation designed for 300 and it would have been a relief for Francis and the other Hurst men to be sent within a few days for training at Shorncliffe Barracks. Even here there was overcrowding and men were sleeping on the floor without sheets.

Conditions did not improve when 5th Battalion was moved out of the barracks to make way for new arrivals. They then slept under canvas on St. Martin's Plain until a combination of bad weather, leaking tents and deep mud made soldiering impossible. The men were then billeted in various hotels around Folkestone and training continued to improve the men's fitness and discipline with square bashing, full-pack marching and shooting practice at Hythe Ranges.

At some time during the training Francis was transferred to 2nd Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and went to France on 1st December 1915. He joined his Battalion behind the lines at Sercus near Hazebrouck and in January they returned to action in the trenches west of Béthune. This followed a typical rotation of billets, reserve and front line until the end of March when the Battalion was transferred south by train, disembarking at Longueau station in Amiens.

From there they marched about ten miles to billets in Flesselles. After a few days they moved westwards to Millencourt near Albert. For the next three months the Battalion served in the trenches on the Somme front until on 22nd June 1916 they were withdrawn from the front line in readiness for the imminent offensive. The barrage commenced a week before the large scale attack that later became known as the First Day of the Somme. Over the next few days around forty men arrived to make up the Battalion numbers. On 30th June the Battalion paraded at 9.15 p.m. before moving forward to the assembly points for the next day's attack.

At 6.25 a.m. on 1st July the bombardment intensified and at 7.30 a.m. it lifted from the German front line trenches. Whistles blew and the men climbed out of the relative safety of the trenches and moved forward across No Man's Land. The target for 2nd Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment was the village of Ovillers on which they advanced with 2nd Lincolnshires. The story of the day is told in the Battalion War Diary:

2nd Battalion suffered 437 casualties on the First Day of the Somme and were withdrawn from the battle next day. One of those killed was Francis Goodall; he was nineteen years of age. Also killed was Caleb Winsor, who was born and grew up in Hurst and belonged to the same Battalion as Francis. Two days later George Hayward and Ernest Lloyd died fighting over the same ground when 5th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment tried unsuccessfully to take Ovillers. Francis Goodall is buried near where he fell in Ovillers Military Cemetery.

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