Patrick McGoldrick was born on 15 December 1913 in the family home, 18 St Lawrence Street, Greenock, Renfrewshire. They lived just 500 metres from the River Clyde, near where it enjoins the Firth of Clyde. His father, Patrick McGoldrick, was a journeyman rivetter working in the shipping industry. He had moved the family to Greenock from Dundee in 1910, as Greenock had a booming shipping trade and employment was plentiful. Meanwhile his mother Catherine Conway, who had worked in the Dundee jute mills as a girl, raised Patrick and his ten sisters. Patrick was the ultimate middle child, with five older sisters - Mary, Cathy, Annie, Rose & Peggy, and five younger sisters - Norah, Theresa, Brida, Bella & Alice. The family returned to Dundee in 1920, shortly after the birth of twins Brida and Bella. Sadly, the following year the eldest daughter Mary died of tuberculosis aged 16.
The family's return to Dundee when Patrick was seven set in motion one of the biggest influencing factors in his life: they were now joined by Patrick's maternal grandmother, "Grannie Conway". Grannie Conway had grown up in the slums of Glasgow in the 1850s, her father dying in a railway accident when she was a girl and her mother, an alcoholic, stealing coal to survive the harsh Scottish winters. Her home life was filled with violence, including being the victim of a horrific assault by her brother when she was in her twenties. But Grannie Conway was different; she singlehandedly 'broke the cycle'. She moved to Dundee to work in the burgeoning jute mill industry, and was a fiercely independent woman: she never married, and never lived with a man. She had one daughter, Patrick's mother Catherine. She was an extremely intelligent, widely-read woman who loved Shakespeare and the classics. Grannie Conway joining the family, as a full-time grandmother to help raise the ten children, had an enormous impact on all of their lives. She instilled in her grandchildren her love of literature, appreciation of education and strong ambition and independence. As shall be seen, these features clearly stayed with Patrick throughout his life. As a young man in his early twenties, Patrick decided to leave Scotland and head for the south of England. He chose the town of Woking, Surrey, and moved into 'Vifred', 4 Rectory Lane. This was a fateful decision: living next door at 'Diane', 2 Rectory Lane, was a young child's nurse, Ida May Ollington. Their love story was soon to begin, but not before an important preface.
Having moved to Surrey, Patrick was a young man completely alone. Having grown up in such a bustling, full, multigenerational household, he must have felt this quite starkly. It was in the summer of late 1937 that Patrick met Betsy Jane Whittle, who ran several cafes in the local area, including one at Radnor Gardens. She was ten years older than Patrick, a warm and motherly figure, who no doubt gave Patrick the sense of home and family he was missing. Patrick and Betsy had a brief relationship, the precise circumstances of which are unknown.
What is known is that it produced a daughter, born in July 1938. It is believed that Patrick almost certainly did not know that Betsy had become pregnant or that he had fathered a daughter. Even if he had known, the circumstances were difficult, and things would likely have developed along the same path. Patrick never knew his daughter, who later migrated to Australia.
A couple of years later, Patrick and Ida began their relationship, which was to signal the start of Patrick's happy family life. During this time he worked as an aircraft fitter, most likely at Vickers in nearby Byfleet.
Due to Patrick's occupation, he was a reserve worker during WWII. His skills were highly sought after and he moved around the United Kingdom to wherever he was needed, settling in Ayr where aircraft engineering was essential due to the RAF base. Although his primary contribution to the war effort was through his engineering work, he did play a proud role in the military, being a highly skilled bagpiper in the Scots Guards.
On 6 March 1943, shortly after settling in Ayr, Patrick and Ida were married according to the forms of the Roman Catholic Church by canon Joseph McHardy in St. Margaret's Church. Patrick was an engineer's journeyman tool maker, and Ida was a hospital clerkess. Patrick's beloved sister Bella acted as a witness.
Patrick and Ida welcomed their two sons while living in Ayr. In 1944 Terence was born, and Stephen followed in 1947. This must have been an emotional year for Patrick. In addition to his son being born, he proudly served as best man at Bella's wedding to Harry McConnachie in Dundee. However, it was also the year that the family lost their beloved and irreplaceable matriarch, Grannie Conway, who passed away aged 94.
In 1951 Patrick and Ida decided to raise their family in Woking, Surrey, where they had first met over ten years previously. Clearly they had happy memories of their days there and decided it was a good place to raise their sons.
They first lived at 3 Martyrs Lane, before moving in 1955 to 5 Beaufort Close, where they remained for the rest of Patrick's life. Here they raised their sons with love and support. Patrick was a strict father, no doubt borne from his desire to see his sons do well and avoid the difficult times experienced by earlier generations of the family. Suffice to say, both sons did Patrick very proud in that respect. Both initially followed Patrick into engineering, and forged their own careers.
Patrick was an engineer by profession and a particularly hard worker. He was a tenacious man, a very smart dresser, and a traditional family man whose ultimate goal in life was to provide well for his wife and children. He achieved that to no end.
In the late 1960s, Stephen migrated to Australia, initially to work as an engineer in far north Queensland. Around the same time, Patrick's mother Catherine suffered a stroke and died at home, aged 86. She was survived by her husband of 64 years. Patrick's father died three years later aged ninety.
As the circle of life dictates, around this time Patrick welcomed his grandchildren into the family. He was particularly close to his grandchildren who lived nearby, and had a very significant positive influence on their lives and continues to be an inspiration to this day.
Consistent with his character, Patrick worked until the very end. He had been diagnosed with bronchial cancer which unfortunately metastasised, and died at St. Luke's Hospital, Guildford, on 9 February 1978 aged 64. The Scots Guards played the bagpipes very poignantly at his funeral. Probate was granted over Patrick's estate at Winchester on 13 April 1978, to the value of £4912.
Ida remained at their Beaufort Close home for some time, before settling in Fleet, Hampshire. She later lived in Ticehurst Care Home in Aldershot and finally Lavender Lodge Care Home in Farnborough. She passed away on 4 November 2008 aged 95.