GODSAL, Capt Walter Edward Browning RN 1924-2025
Richard R
From the Telegraph of 19 July 2025: GODSAL Walter Edward Browning, Captain, Royal Navy, died on 15th July, aged 100. Beloved husband of the late Pamela. Much loved "Buncle" to her children, Philip, David, Caroline, Rupert and Meredith, also 12 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. Funeral Service on Thursday 21st August at 1 p.m. at St Mary Magdalene Church, Winsford, Somerset... Donations, if desired, to Dunkirk Memorial House and Winsford PCC through Hedley Price…
He was yr s of Lt-Col Philip GODSAL MC 1880-1963 sometime head of that gentry family of Iscoyd Park and Violet Mary 1890-1978 d of William Hugh BROWNING 1861-1949 of High Chimneys, Hurst, Berks by his 6 July 1886 m (St Paul, Wilton Place) to Mary Constance Emma 1860-1951 d of Rev Thomas BACON 1813-92 by his 30 Dec 1851 m (St James, Paddington) to Lavinia Emma SHAW 1827-1917. He m 1970 as her 2nd h (her first h was Walter’s elder brother Philip Godsal d 1982 from whom she obtained a div in 1970) Pamela Anne de Lisle 1924-2004 d of Lt-Col Wilmot Smyth CAULFEILD MC 1887-1980 (5xgt gs of 1st Viscount CHARLEMONT c1624-1671) and his 1st w Meredith de Lisle 1899-1924 d of Reginald Marshall JOHN 1868-1928 of Wrotham, Norfolk by his 22 April 1895 m (St Martin, Epsom) to as her 1st h Frederica Isabella de Lisle c1871-1960 (Mrs Macfalan) d of Thomas SAUNDERS.
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Captain Walter Godsal, helped sink the Haguro in the last major surface battle of the war in the Far East
As a midshipman on the foc’s’le of Verulam he counted the destroyer’s torpedoes running towards the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro
Captain Walter Godsal, who has died aged 100, was probably the last survivors of the last major surface action of the Second World War in the Far East.
Godsal, in the destroyer Verulam, had just celebrated VE Day in Trincomalee at a short shipboard thanksgiving service on board and tasted his first tot of rum at a “splice the mainbrace”, when the five destroyers of the 26th Destroyer Flotilla were ordered to sail at 06:00 next morning.
A few days later, on the night of May 14-15, still a midshipman, and formally under training, he took part in the Battle of the Malacca Strait when the flotilla, cued by the Wrens at the wireless listening station in Colombo, intercepted the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro and her escort in the Malacca Strait. Godsal witnessed the subsequent battle from his action station at A-gun on the foc’s’le of Verulam [….]
The younger son of Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Godsal MC, Walter Edward Browning Godsal was born on December 3 1924 at Dalton Holme near Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and attended Lambrook prep in Berkshire.
Inspired by stories of his uncle, Commander Alfred Godsal DSO, who was killed in action while commanding HMS Vindictive at the Second Ostend Raid in 1918, Walter wanted to join the Navy, but his father insisted that his education should be more rounded and sent him to Eton.
From there, at the relatively advanced age of 18, Godsal joined the naval college at its wartime home of Eaton Hall in Cheshire, as a “Frobisher”, as the Special Entry for public schoolboys was sometimes known [….]
In 2018 Godsal and many of his family, along with members of the families of Admiral Sir Victor Crutchley and Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Drummond, who had won their VCs at Ostend, visited the Vindictive war memorial. Godsal was guest of honour and made a speech before the King of the Belgians to commemorate the centenary of the Ostend Raid and the death of his uncle.
In retirement, Godsal settled on Exmoor, where he took up porcelain restoration for a hobby, and was an avid reader and letter writer, although his final years were marred by blindness. He died in the Royal British Legion home in Taunton. He was sustained by his faith, which found expression in his stewardship of St Mary Magdalene at Winsford in Somerset and by his support for the Prayer Book Society.
In 1970 Walter Godsal married Pamela, née Caulfeild, the former wife of his elder brother, Philip. She died in 2004, and he is survived by five children from her first marriage.
Captain Walter Godsal, born December 3 1924, died July 15 2025