Hodgson, CM

Captain Clarence Mortimer Hodgson

Clarence was born in Stoke Newington, North London, on January 10th 1892, the son of bottle salesman Charles Hodgson and his Indian-born wife, Annie. During his time at the College, which lasted from the start of 1903 until the end of 1909, he was not resident with his parents, instead living with his cousin, also called Charles Hodgson, who was forty years his senior. By 1911, now employed as a clerk in a firm of merchants who largely traded with South America, he was once more resident with his parents. It was around this time that he also joined the Army as a reservist, originally in the London Scottish Battalion, before switching around two years later to the 3rd London Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery. He spent the first half of 1914 in Germany, studying on a languages course.
When war broke out later that summer, Clarence, as a reservist with several years’ experience, was granted a commission in the Durham Light Infantry. In early 1915 he was appointed Musketry Officer for his battalion, and that April was promoted to Lieutenant. In early September he went over to the front for the first time, but later that month was invalided home, having been severely wounded at Loos. Upon his recovery, in April 1916, he was promoted to Captain, and sent once more to France. There he served in the Ypres salient for a time, before being sent to the Somme; it was there that he was killed, near Ginchy, on September 18th 1916.