247406 Pte. Edward Lanyon Hodge British Army 9th Battalion Devonshire Regiment from:Trevidgoe Farm, Withiel, Cornwall (d.10th August 1916) Edward Hodge, known to his family as Ted was born in 1894, and was the second son of William and Beatrice Hodge, of Trevidgoe Farm in Withiel, Cornwall. He was the second youngest of his four siblings, Marjorie, William (known as Guy), Beatrice and Geoff. On the outbreak of the First World War, Ted and his younger brother, Geoff, declared that as soon as the harvest was over they would leave the family farm, and join up. They travelled to Plymouth together to do so, and in 1915 both brothers were serving in France.
Ted served with the 9th Battalion, the Devonshire Regiment which was a unit of 20th Brigade. The 9th Bn. embarked at Southampton on the 27th July, and arrived at Le Havre, France on the 28th July 1915. Two months later, on September 25th, Ted was injured by shrapnel at the Battle of Loos. Information passed down through the family suggests that after obtaining this severe wound to his thigh, he was forced to crawl for over a mile before he could find help.
The official account of the 9th Devonshire Regiment for the 25th September states:
"On the right, the 20th Brigade had carried the German front trenches within half an hour of the attack starting. Its leading battalions were the 2nd Gordons (the old 92nd Highlanders) and the 8th Devons, one of the two service battalions which had taken the place of the Guards battalions formerly in the brigade. Despite the loss of most of their officers, these two units pressed on vigorously, capturing eight field guns and more prisoners; they were only checked when they reached the point where the Hulloch-Vermelles road crosses that from Lens to La Bassee. Here, well ahead of the troops on either flank, and reduced to a mere handful, they came to a standstill. In support of them came up the 6th Gordons, a Territaorial battalion from Banff and Donside, and some of the 9th Devons and 2nd Borderers. The bulk of the 9th Devons and Borderers halted at the gun positions where they dug in, linking up the emplacements into a continuous trench, hereafter known as Gun Trench."
Ted was sent back to Blighty, and to the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley (near Southampton) for treatment. His eldest brother, Guy, went to visit him, and was alarmed to find that Ted's leg was swollen to almost the size of his body. When Guy asked why doctors didn't just take the leg off, Ted bitterly replied that that they wouldn't do that if they thought they had a chance of returning him to the front. Ted returned to the family farm and was discharged from the Army on the 25th July 1916, 10 months after being wounded. He died of his wounds 16 days after his discharge, on the 10th August. He was 22 years old.
On his death certificate, Ted is listed as a former Private of the 9th Devons, and an army pensioner. His father is listed as the informant, William Hodge, Father, Present at the death, Trevidgoe, Withiel.
Ted is buried in the village cemetery near his home, beside his parent's graves. The inscription reads: In Loving Memory of Edward Lanyon, beloved son of William and Beatrice Hodge. Died 10th of August 1916 from the effect of wounds received at Loos, 25th of September 1915, aged 22 years.
Perhaps because Ted had died at home, and almost a year after being wounded, he was not recognised as a war casualty by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and did not appear on any Roll of Honour, until 2008. A wreath is now laid on his grave, now officially recognised as a war grave, on Remembrance Day each year.
Ted's younger brother, Geoff, was killed in action in 1918, serving with the 9th Bn. Kings Royal Rifles Corps (see separate listing). Their eldest brother (and parent's only surviving son), Guy, had been unable to join up due to a heart condition he'd had from birth. The family farm had to give up their horses to the war effort, a sacrifice from which Guy never recovered. At the death of his two brothers, Guy was forced to give up his studies to become a veterinary surgeon, and instead had to take on the family farm, which was sold a few years later, in 1922. One of Ted's sisters, Beatrice, served as a nurse with the Red Cross during the war, and his oldest sister, Marge, lost her fiance as well as two brothers in the war she never married, and later became a schoolteacher in the local town, Bodmin. Guy was my Great Grandfather.
|