Alfred T HODGSON

16/926, Private. b. 1896, Clayton d. Sat. 1st July 1916 (aged 20).

A further member of the 1st Bradford Pals, Alfred had joined up in September 1914 to embark on ‘the adventure of a lifetime’ with many of his friends and neighbours. He had previously worked as a dyer’s labourer before enlisting and had lived on Lidget Terrace with his parents and younger brother for most of his life. His experiences of training and initiation into trench warfare were shared with several other men from Clayton, most of whom became casualties as well.

However, a piece of evidence survives today which can shed some light on what happened to Alfred during the first few hours of that nightmare day. He had been attached to the battalion’s Machine Gun Section, and one of its members survived to record their experiences. These have been published in Ralph Hudson’s ‘Bradford Pals’ book. The extract, as told by Private Price, reads:

“…my own section was wiped out when we went into no-man’s land. We were about 70 yards out and I saw Captain Clough (officer commanding ‘D’ Company) on our left, and further on our left another gun. We went out and over the parapet at a slow double…I looked at the front line but could see no Germans. We stayed there for some time-until about 2.00pm …Of the Machine Gun Section to which I was attached, five of the six got into no-man’s land before being hit.”

This statement tells us that more than likely, Alfred Hodgson had clambered into no-man’s land and actually seen the carnage erupting around him before a few short minutes he, too, became one of the ever mounting casualties just a few yards in front of the British Front lines.

Alfred is commemorated at the Theipval Memorial, Theipval, France.