Obituary: Kitty Gostick (1941)

Obituary from the November 1941 issue of the Socialist Standard

Another Old Comrade Crosses the Line 

We are sorry to have to record the death, on October 8th last, of another old member of the Party—Comrade Kitty Gostick. 

Mrs. Gostick, who was a sister of the late Comrade J. Fitzgerald belonged to that dwindling group of members who founded the Socialist Party of Great Britain in 1904; she thus remained a steadfast and solid prop of our principles and policy for nearly forty years. Of late years her health has not been good, and for the two and a half years preceding her death she was an invalid, a condition she bore with surprising patience, but she was always keenly interested in the activities of the Party.

During the last World War she served on the Executive Committee of the Party, and she also did good work on another committee assisting members who were in trouble during that war. Older members remember with gratitude the assistance she gave them and her devotion to the cause in those difficult times.

In Mrs. Gostick’s early days members froze around our sparsely attended outdoor meetings, but time has justified the fortitude and enthusiasm of those days. The work she, and others like her, put into the Socialist movement has borne fruit and one day, perhaps not far ahead, the long awaited harvest will be reaped.

To the writer her death recalls old happy days when her jolly face appeared at homely little gatherings, and many of us were too young to appreciate the bitter times that lay ahead. But death "the silent pilot" has come at last, and another link with the past is broken.

In expressing our regret at the death of Mrs. Gostick we also offer our sympathy to her husband, Comrade Harry Gostick, and her daughter in their bereavement.

Gilmac.