Name
Herbert (Joe/Joseph) Hodgkinson
1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/09/1916
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
68186
Canadian Infantry
25th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
COURCELETTE BRITISH CEMETERY
XII. B. 16.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Shenley War Memorial, We are not aware of any Well End memorial
Pre War
Herbert Hodgkinson (known as Joe or Joseph) was born on 13 October 1896 at Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, the son of Robert and Mary Sarah Hodgkinson and one of ten children, but two had died in infancy.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Sutton Coldfield where his father was working as a shopkeeper. By 1911 they had moved to 3 Calvert Road, High Barnet and Herbert was a 13 year old schoolboy. His father was then working as a currier (leather worker). When his parents moved to 1 Willow Cottages, Well End, Shenley prior to the outbreak of the war, his father worked as a boot and shop repairer in a shop near the village pond.
On 9 August 1914, Joe emigrated to Canada from Liverpool and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Four of his older siblings had previously emigrated to Nova Scotia and he went to join them.
Wartime Service
He enlisted at Halifax, Canada on 9 February 1915 and joined the 25th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Nova Scotia Regiment), which sailed on SS Saxonia from Halifax on 20 May 1915 and disembarked on 15 September 1915.
On 21 July 1916 he was attached to the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company for approximately a month, before being returned to his battalion.
Initially reported as wounded and missing, Joe was later presumed to have died on or since 15 September 1916, aged 19. His body was located at the end of the war and 'concentrated' to the Courcelette British Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
$15 of his military pay was assigned to his mother from 1 December 1915 until his death.
Brothers Jack and Frank also enlisted into the Canadian forces. Brother Leonard served as a driver in the Royal Field Artillery.
Acknowledgments
Taff Williams, Brenda Palmer
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