Harold Eric Gough

Harold Eric Gough
Born(1921-04-09)9 April 1921
Herne Bay, Kent
Died2 June 2008(2008-06-02) (aged 87)
Herne Bay, Kent
Occupations
Years active1947–2008
Known for
  • Books on history of Herne Bay
  • President of Herne Bay Historical Records Society 1992–2008
  • Contributions to local history knowledge of East Kent
Signature

Harold Eric Gough (/ɡɒf/ GOF) (9 April 1921 – 2 June 2008), was an English librarian, museum curator, historian, writer and lecturer, specialising in the local history of Herne Bay, Reculver, and Herne, Kent.

Gough, the son of a master boot maker from Surrey, was born and lived almost his whole life in Herne Bay. Apart from five years serving in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, he spent his career as a librarian in the same town. At the same time he dedicated his working life to the curation of Herne Bay Museum and to the Herne Bay Historical Records Society (HBHRS) which owned most of its exhibits and governed it. Most of his publications were aimed at informing the public of the local history and archaeology of the Herne Bay area, from the Stone Age, through the Roman era, the days of mediaeval Herne and smuggling, to the belated 19th-century development of the seaside town of Herne Bay.

Gough was a member of the Kent Archaeological Society, and as a field archaeologist took part in the excavation of the Roman fort, Regulbium, at Reculver in the 1950s and 1960s. As a member of the Herne society he supported the preservation of Herne Windmill.

Background

Gough was born into a family which, apart from military service, had moved around south-east England. His paternal grandfather was Harry Gough, a draper from Hoxton, London. Gough's father, Ernest Harry Gough, a master boot maker from Surrey, served for four years with the Canadian Armed Forces during the First World War, and was a special constable in the Second World War. In 1924, E.H. Gough's boot repair shop contributed to Herne Bay's carnival a float representing boot repairers.

Gough was born in Herne Bay, Kent, on 9 April 1921. The 1921 England Census finds Gough at age 2 months, living with his parents at 31 William Street, Herne Bay, above his father's first boot shop. The 1939 register finds Gough as a library assistant, aged 18 years, living at 188 High Street with his parents Ernest Harry Gough, a master boot maker, and Evelyn Annie Gough née Muller. Gough does not appear to have had the benefit of higher education, but later in life, as honorary curator of the Herne Bay Historical Records Society, he was nevertheless able to translate a mediaeval Latin document for a Herne Bay resident in 1966.

Gough married Anne Maureen Prestwidge of Herne Bay, in April 1948. In the 1960s he and his wife lived at 34 St Anne's Drive, Herne Bay. He died on 2 June 2008.

Career

Royal Air Force

From 1941, Gough served for five years in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In 1941 he was promoted to acting pilot officer in the training branch of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was demobbed in 1946.

Kent County Council Library Service

Gough's entire civilian working life was spent in the employment of the Kent County Council Library Service. He started work at Herne Bay library in 1939. His constant presence in the library meant that the public could always contact him there on Herne Bay Historical Records Society business, such that he and the society "became almost synonymous", according to Herne Bay historian John Fishpool.

Herne Bay Historical Records Society (HBHRS)

This organisation was formerly named the Herne Bay Records Society (HBRS). Having worked unofficially as the museum's curator since 1939 (excluding five years' military service), Gough succeeded Tom Armstrong Bowes in 1949 as honorary curator of the HBRS, which was intricately connected with the town's museum and library. He served officially in that position for 59 years, between 1949 and 2008, and was the society's president from 1992 to 2008. Between 1949 and 1951, while Bowes was still chairman of the museum and library committee, the two men worked together. He was made an honorary life member of the HBHRS in 1968, "in recognition of his diligent work on behalf of the membership over the years".

Gough tended to be seen by the local newspapers and residents as a first-stop source of local historical knowledge. For example, when the new Women's Institute, Bleangate, section was formed in Herne in 1968, Gough was at hand to explain the historical source of the term, "Bleangate". When a post-Second World War bomb disposal team found two Napoleonic Wars era cannonballs offshore of the King's Hall, Gough had an explanation, tracing the event to an August 1813 military shooting exercise near the site of the present King's Hall. In 1975, builder Fred Palmer brought Gough a two-foot (0.6-metre) long mammoth tusk and some other ice age bones, which he had discovered half a mile (805 metres) out on the sands during an unusually low tide. In 1991 Gough "pieced together" for Herne Bay Gazette journalists the story of a preventive man, Midshipman Sydenham Snow, who died in a battle against smugglers. In 1999, The Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Jennifer Samper, presented to Gough a print of an 1817 watercolour of Reculver Church, by Denis Dighton,.in honour of his 50 years' curation of Herne Bay Museum.

Miscellany

Although he said he was not superstitious himself, Gough showed an interest in the history of superstition. Having heard that an "unlucky" song called "Good-Bye" had been composed by Francesco Paolo Tosti with lyrics by George Whyte-Melville in Herne Bay, and that there were bad-luck stories attached to performances of the song, Gough wrote in 1957 to the London Evening News, asking for more information from readers.

... [The song] has a black reputation among theatrical folk, and in 1954 you printed a reader's letter detailing a whole week's misfortune following its performance in 1910. I invite readers to write to me if they have personal recollections of the effect of the song. Any letters associating it with good fortune would be equally welcome. My interest is not superstitious, but simply historical. Harold E. Gough, hon. curator, Harrogate Records Society.

.In 1968 he was assisting a young couple who believed that their house was haunted, and who required some kind of historical explanation. The couple said that in 1916 a man had hanged himself from the bathroom window, and Gough was called in to do further research.

Associations

Gough had life membership of the Kent Archaeological Society. He was deputy director of the Reculver excavation group, which investigated the Roman fort, Regulbium, between 1957 and 1969. In 1962 the archaeologist Brian Phelp and Gough discovered 8-foot (2.4-metre) deep defensive ditches, containing flints, Roman pottery and burnt material at the fort. Gough was actively taking part as a digger, or field archaeologist, in 1966. He was one of the original members of the Herne Society, or Friends of Herne Mill, supporting its effort to preserve Herne Windmill. He was chairman of the Canterbury Family History Group for many years, and had membership of its umbrella group, the Kent Family History Society. In February 1969, when the Isle of Sheppey was expected to be shortlisted as a site for a third London airport, a pressure group was organised to object to such a plan, and its committee chose Gough as the delegate for its Herne Bay division. In the following month he saw fit to explain the situation in the Herne Bay Press.

Lectures

Gough lectured in Herne Bay on the subject of local history, as did his predecessor Tom Armstrong Bowes. Some of his lecture titles are listed below.

Publications

The following is an incomplete list. Besides his books, Gough published articles on the subject of Herne Bay local history in books, magazines and newspapers, sometimes debunking local myths.

Articles, and letters to the Press

Gough debunked the myth that Herne's "Smuggler's Cottage" (right) was so named before 1908.

Journals

Books

Books by Harold E. Gough

Note: Gough also contributed some photographs to: Hawkins, John (1991). Herne Bay in Old Photographs. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Alan Sutton. ISBN 0862998913..

Notes

Note: under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, section 34, certified copies of birth, marriage and death entries carrying the General Register Office seal are evidence of the birth or death to which they relate. For verification, anyone can purchase such a certified copy of the certificate from the General Record Office.

  1. ↑ Harry Gough (Poplar c.1853 – Portsea Island 1886). GRO index: Births Jun 1853 Gough Harry Shoreditch 1c 151. Deaths Jun 1886 Gough Harry 33 Portsea 2b 346.
  2. ↑ Ernest Harry Gough (30 March 1885 – 12 January 1957). See 1939 Register. GRO index: Births Jun 1885 Gough Ernest Harry Farnham 2a 101. Deaths Mar 1957 Gough Ernest H. 71 Bridge 5b 48. He is buried in Herne Bay Cemetery, plot II, grave R19.
  3. ↑ Harold Eric Gough (1921 – 2008) GRO index: Births Jun 1921 Gough Harold S Muller Blean 2a 1871. Deaths 2 June 2008 Gough Harold Eric 87 Herne Bay (source: GreyPower Deceased Data. compiled by Wilmington Millennium, West Yorkshire.). GRO reference: Gough Harold Eric 1921 DOR Q2/2008 in Kent (5641P) Reg 1P005 Entry Number 500967400.
  4. ↑ In the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th centuries, "master" (as in "master boot maker") did not imply higher education and paper qualifications; it implied a high enough skill and reputation to pay employees and to employ apprentices, and to be called "master" in the workshop.
  5. ↑ Evelyn Annie Gough (East Grinstead 14 February 1885 – Herne Bay 1962). GRO index: Births Mar 1884 Muller Evelyn Annie E. Grinstead 2b 148. Marriages Sep 1915 Muller Evelyn A. and Gough Harold E. E.Grinstead 2b 399. Deaths Dec 1962 Evelyn A. 78 Bridge 5b 70.
  6. ↑ Anne Maureen Prestwidge (born 1928). GRO index: Births Dec 1928 Prestwidge Anne M. Peskett Blean 2a 1462. Marriages Mar 1948 Gough Harold E and Prestwidge Anne M., Bridge 5b 162.

References

  1. ↑ "1891 England Census. Osnaburgh Hill, Frimley, Surrey. AG12/565 page 5/32. Schedule 34". ancestry.co.uk. H.M. Government. 1891. Retrieved 19 October 2026 – via Ancestry.
  2. 1 2 "Father and son doing their bit". Herne Bay Press. 6 September 1941. p. 5 col.5. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ↑ "Regatta postponed till Saturday. Carnival provides Herne bay with a gay evening". Herne Bay Press. 6 September 1924. p. 1 col.3. Retrieved 20 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Fishpool, John (2017). Digging Up the Past: The Archaeology and Early History of the Herne Bay Area (1 ed.). Kent, England: Herne Bay Historical Records Society: Herne Bay Past Series, no.13. p. 7.
  5. 1 2 Gough, Harold (April 2010). Mills and Milling in the Herne Bay Area, Herne Bay Past Series (3) (1 ed.). Herne Bay, Kent: Herne Bay Historical Records Society. ISBN 9781904661139. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  6. ↑ "1921 England Census, for Ernest Harry Gough, 31 William Street, Herne Bay". ancestry.co.uk. H.M. Government. 1921. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive. 31 William Street, Herne Bay. Ernest Harry Gough, boot repairer, 36 father born Camberley, Surrey, Evelyn Annie Gough née Muller 36 born East Grinstead Sussex, mother, Harold Eric Gough 2 months born Herne Bay Kent.
  7. 1 2 "Marriages". Herne Bay Press. 23 April 1948. p. 6 col.1. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive. Harold Eric Gough, son of Mr and Mrs E.H. Gough, of 188 High Street, Herne Bay.
  8. ↑ "Old records in book". Herne Bay Press. 3 June 1966. p. 5 col.6. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Letters to the editor: East Cliff". Herne Bay Press. 5 October 1962. p. 9 col.4. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ H.M. Government probate index: Harold Eric Gough, died 2 June 2008. Probate no. 2912729 London 16 January 2009.
  11. ↑ "Obituary: Harold Eric Gough", the Daily Telegraph, 4 June 2008. Quotation "Died 2 June 2008, aged 87".
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "Historian celebrated". Herne Bay Gazette. 14 October 1999. p. 5 cols 2–4. Retrieved 22 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive. Note: this source includes a photograph of Gough.
  13. ↑ "Royal Air Force lists 1919-1945: Harold Gough". findmypast.co.uk. H.M. Government. 1941. Retrieved 15 October 2026 – via Find My Past.
  14. 1 2 "The late Dr T.A. Bowes". Herne Bay Press. 10 September 1954. p. 4 cols 6,7. Retrieved 1 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ↑ "A new W.I. for Herne". Herne Bay Press. 8 March 1968. p. 11 col.3. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ↑ "War relics from the sea". Herne Bay Press. 22 March 1968. p. 3 cols 3–5. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ↑ "Mammoth find on the beach". Herne Bay Press. 18 January 1974. p. 1 cols 5-7. Retrieved 22 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  18. ↑ "Brave officer was killed by smugglers". Herne Bay Gazette. 5 April 1991. p. 5 cols 1-8. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  19. 1 2 "Letters: Talks on TV and films on radio". Evening News (London). 25 June 1957. p. 6 cols 4,5. Retrieved 22 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ↑ "Couple try to solve ghost mystery". Herne Bay Press. 6 December 1968. p. 14 cols 1,2. Retrieved 22 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.Note: No 1916 news report has yet been found in reference to a suicide story connected with a Broadway address.
  21. ↑ "Air pictures help to solve Thanet mystery". Evening News (London). 10 April 1962. p. 7 col.3. Retrieved 23 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ↑ "This Saturday". Herne Bay Press. 19 August 1966. p. 7 col.1. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  23. ↑ "Herne Mill". Herne Bay Press. 6 January 1961. p. 5 col.3. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  24. ↑ "Sheppey group sees need for continued action". Herne Bay Press. 28 February 1969. p. 9 cols 7,8. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  25. ↑ "Letters to the editor". Herne Bay Press. 14 March 1969. p. 6 cols 6,7. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  26. ↑ "Reculver dig". Herne Bay Press. 1 May 1964. p. 3 cols.1,2. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  27. ↑ "Around the villages: Herne". Herne Bay Press. 27 January 1967. p. 7 col.3. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  28. ↑ "Herne". Herne Bay Press. 28 July 1967. p. 6 col 7. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  29. ↑ "Herne". Herne Bay Press. 27 October 1967. p. 3 col.6. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  30. ↑ "Reculver". Herne Bay Press. 19 July 1968. p. 6 col.6. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  31. ↑ "Records Society's active year". Herne Bay Press. 23 October 1970. p. 12 col.3. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  32. 1 2 3 Gough, Harold E. (8 February 1963). "Letters to the editor: Smugglers' cottages". Herne Bay Press. p. 9 col.5. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  33. ↑ "Letters to the editor". Herne Bay Press. 27 October 1950. p. 5 cols 2,3. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  34. ↑ "Siamese twins were born at Herne in 1565". Herne Bay Press. 19 December 1952. p. 1 cols 6,7. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  35. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (24 April 1964). "The days of the road tolls". Herne Bay Press. p. 4 cols 5–8. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  36. ↑ Gough, Harold (19 June 1964). "A Dickens mystery. Did novelist come to Herne Bay?". Herne Bay Press. p. 3 cols 5,6. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  37. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (27 November 1964). "Letters to the editor: Smugglers' cottages". Herne Bay Press. p. 3 col.3. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  38. ↑ "Letters to the editor: Pagan Beltinge?". Herne Bay Press. 1 October 1965. p. 8 col.6. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  39. ↑ "Beyond the Forest of Blean. Chapter II, Friction in the Church". Herne Bay Press. 27 August 1965. p. 5 cols 1–3. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  40. ↑ Gough, Harold (16 September 1966). "Roman history under glass. What one may learn in the Reculver Room". Herne Bay Press. p. 7 cols 3–6. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  41. ↑ "Pier history repeats itself!". Herne Bay Press. 6 January 1967. p. 3 cols 1–3. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  42. ↑ "Obscure history of the Valiere family: part 1". Herne Bay Press. 22 December 1967. p. 3 cols 3–5. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  43. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (29 December 1967). "Obscure history of Valiere family: part 2". Herne Bay Press. p. 3 cols 1,2. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  44. ↑ "Local history: the lighter side of numbering houses". Herne Bay Press. 27 December 1968. p. 11, cols 1,2. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  45. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (4 July 1969). "Church's 1300 years of history". Herne Bay Press. p. 6 cols 5–8. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  46. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (15 May 1970). "Herne Bay's market, in 1841". Herne Bay Press. p. 3 cols 1–3. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  47. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (17 August 1973). "Journalist's link with Herne Bay". Herne Bay Press. p. 20, cols 7,8. Retrieved 14 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  48. ↑ "Writing on the wall for The Dolphin". Herne Bay Times. 29 March 1990. p. 16,17. Retrieved 22 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archives. Written by anonymous journalist, all information supplied by Gough, who is debunking a pub's purported history
  49. ↑ Gough, Harold (1984). "A Fresh Look at the Reculver Parish Clerk's Story" (PDF). The Archaeologia Cantiana. 99 (6). Maidstone: Transactions of The Kent Archaeological Society: 133–138. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  50. ↑ Gough, Harold (2001). "The Archbishop's Manor at Ford, Hoath" (PDF). The Archaeologia Cantiana. 121. Maidstone: Transactions of The Kent Archaeological Society: 251–268. Retrieved 16 October 2026.
  51. ↑ Hasluck, Eugene Lewis; Gough, Harold (1966). Gough, Harold (ed.). Beyond the Forest of Blean: chapters in the history of Herne Bay. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  52. ↑ "Beyond the Forest of Blean. Chapters in the History of Herne Bay". Herne Bay Press. Herne Bay, Kent: Herne Bay Press. 3 June 1966. p. 12 cols 7,8. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  53. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (1966). The Story of St Martin, Herne (booklet). United Kingdom: British Publishing Co. Ltd. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  54. ↑ Gough, Harold (1967). The Story of the Parish Church of Herne. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  55. ↑ "Church news". Herne Bay Press. 28 July 1967. p. 7 col.4. Retrieved 13 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  56. ↑ Gough, Harold (1983). A Picture Book of Old Herne Bay. United Kingdom: Meresborough Books. ISBN 9780905270661.
  57. ↑ Gough, Harold, ed. (1993). Epsom Common (1 ed.). Epsom, Kent: Epsom Common Association. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  58. ↑ Gough, Harold (1993). A History of Milling in the Herne Bay Area (2 ed.). Herne, Kent: Friends of Herne Mill. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  59. ↑ Gough, Harold (1995). Historical Guide to St Mary the Virgin at Reculver. Herne Bay, Kent: Herne Bay Historical Records Society. Retrieved 22 October 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive. Expanded edition of an original written in 1969 to celebrate the 1300th anniversary celebrations. Proceeds to church funds.
  60. ↑ Gough, Harold E. (1999). Herne Bay in Photographs (1 ed.). Canterbury, Kent: Canterbury City Council. ISBN 9781870844444. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  61. ↑ Gough, Harold (2008). Herne Bay's Piers, Herne Bay Past Series (1) (1 ed.). Herne Bay, Kent: Pierhead Publications Ltd. ISBN 9781904661078. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
  62. ↑ Gough, Harold; Fishpool, John (2011). Smuggling In and Around Herne Bay, Herne Bay Past series (7). Herne Bay, Kent: Herne Bay Historical Records Society. ISBN 9781909164062. Retrieved 13 October 2026. Published posthumously
  63. ↑ Hawkins, John (1991). Herne Bay in Old Photographs. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Alan Sutton. ISBN 0862998913.

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