This is one of a series of posts to mark the international Rugby players who died during The Great War. If anyone has further information on the men concerned, I’d be most grateful if it could be added to the thread. Gareth Hodges, Harold Augustus played for England Internationals: 2 : 1906 W- I- Harold Hodges was born on 22 January 1886 Mansfield Woodhouse, son of William A Hodges JP and Augusta Hodges of “Oaklands” Bromley Park, Kent. Played as a Prop for: Roclareston House Nottingham, Sedbergh School, Oxford University (Blue 1905-1908), Sorbonne University, Nottingham, Blackheath, Midland Counties Profession: Schoolmaster Remarks: Played for Oxford University (3-19) v the 1908-1909 Wallabies. Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club 1911. Taught at Tonbridge 1909-1914. War service: 3rd Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment from 27 August 1914; he was wounded by shelling at St Julian on 5 May 1916. He was later a Captain attached to 11th (Service) Battalion, South Lancashire (Prince of Wales’s Volunteers) Regiment (St Helens Pioneer Battalion), Pioneers to the 30th Division. He was in France from February 1915 and was twice Mentioned in Despatches in 1917. He was killed in action near Ham on 24 March 1918, and is buried in Roye New British Cemetery, Somme, France [III. E. 1.].
Harold Augustus Hodges: Captain He was the fifth son of Mr and Mrs William Abraham Hodges of the Hill, East Bridgeford, Notts. All his brothers served with the Expeditionary Force in France. He was born on the 22nd January 1886 at the Priory Mansfield Woodhouse, and went in January 1899 to Sedbergh, where he was in the XI for five years and Captain for the last three; in the XV for fours years and Captain for the last two. Leaving Sedbergh at Christmas 1904 he entered Trinity College, Oxford in January 1905 obtained his Blue as a forward in his first year and playing for Oxford also in 1906-8 was Captain of the university XV in his last year and was one of the few who have taken part in four university matches. An elder brother had gained his blue at Cambridge and in 1905 the brothers were on opposite sides at Queen’s club. He was a dashing and brilliant forward and in 1906 obtained his international cap playing for England against Wales and Ireland. After going down from Oxford he played for the Nottingham Club and being also a fine cricketer played for the Notts County XI in several matches during the summer holidays of 1912 and 1913. After leaving Oxford at the end of the October term 1908 he spent some months in Paris at the Sorbonne and afterwards joined the staff of Tonbridge School in Sep 1909 where he was Senior House Tutor of School House. When war broke out he at once volunteered and after three weeks training with the O.T.C. received a commission date 28th Aug 1914 in the 3rd Batt Monmouthshire Regiment and served with that battalion in France from Feb 1915. He was severely wounded in the body by shell fire at Ypres on the 4th May 1915 but returned to the front in July, though all the pieces of shell had not been extracted. His promotion to Lieutenant in the Monmouth’s was dated 2nd Aug 1915 but he had been gazetted Temporary Captain from 5th May and his promotion to Captain was dated 6th Dec 1916 with precedence 1st June. His battalion had suffered so severely that in July 1916 it was disbanded and he became attached to the 11th Batt South Lancashire Regiment. He had seen much strenuous fighting in many parts of the line from the Yser canal to St Quentin and many stories are told of his courage and consideration for others. On one occasion in front of the Thiepval in July 1916 on his way back with a working party in the early dawn he found a wounded man of another Regiment lying out in No Mans Land and rather than allow him to lie there all day took him on his back and carried him for more than a mile over shell holes and trenches to the dressing station. He was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haigh’s Despatch of April 9th 1917 for services in 1916 and again in that of November 7th 1917 for services between February 26th and September 20th 1917. On the night of March 24th 1918 he had been sent out with his company to establish touch with a battalion who had reported their position as running up to a small factory building called the Sucrerie on the outskirts of Ham and on the Ham – Eppevile road. It was a dark and misty night and moreover a time of great difficulty and inevitable confusion and what precisely occurred will never be known. It appears that he left his company in a railway cutting went on to the Sucrerie accompanied only by one of his subalterns and then himself went on ahead of his companion to enter the building, expecting to find British troops in possession; then he suddenly realised that they were not British used his revolver upon them till he was himself shot down, whilst his companion was also badly wounded, but succeeded in making his escape in the darkness and regaining the cutting before he lost consciousness. Capt Hodges was reported as “missing” believed killed and it was not until Sep that information from Germany established the fact of his death. http://www.3rdbattmons.co.uk/4.html
In Memory of Captain HAROLD AUGUSTUS HODGES Twice Mentioned in Despatches 3rd Bn., Monmouthshire Regiment attd. 11th Bn., South Lancashire Regiment who died age 32 on 24 March 1918 Son of William A. Hodges, J.P. and Augusta Hodges, of "Oaklands," Bromley Park, Kent. Remembered with honour ROYE NEW BRITISH CEMETERY
Standing (L-R): Henry Edmunds Latham, Lawrence Cave Bencowe, Arthur Howard, Stephanus Nicholas Cronje, Hugh Martin, Francis Nathaniel Tarr. Sitting: Noel Willoughby Milton, Henry Holland ('Jumbo') Vassall, Harold Augustus Hodges, Worthington Wynn Hoskin (Captain), Randolph Stonehewer Wix, David B.Davies, Geoffrey Dorling ('Khaki') Roberts. On Ground: George Cunningham, Rupert Henry Williamson.
