Kenneth was born in 1921 in Leeds to Abraham Goldberg and Polish born Fanny nee Cainer and he had two older siblings, Barbara and Arnold. The family surname was changed from Goldberg to Goldthorpe.

Kenneth was the navigator in Mosquito NV176 which departed RAF Great Massingham on a night operation as bomber support on a mission to Berlin. The aircraft crashed between Terlinden and Hoogcruts, Holland. He was temporarily buried in plot F-2-41 in the Allied Cemetery at Margraten, Netherlands. He was reburied on 26 March 1947 in Venray War Cemetery next to his pilot, Flight Lieutenant John Benjamin Joseph Smith, 124796.