The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals 30


‘Corporal Hodder’s Dangerous Mission as Despatch-Rider’, from Deeds That Thrill the Empire


Three: Acting Captain H. G. Hodder, Reserve Signal Company, Royal Engineers, a motorcyclist despatch rider who was awarded the D.C.M. for conspicuous gallantry at Langemarck and Veldhoek in October 1914 - acts of heroism which were described and illustrated in Deeds that Thrill the Empire


1914 Star, with clasp (28066 Cpl. H. G. Hodder. R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. H. G. Hodder.) good very fine (3)


£200-£240


D.C.M. London Gazette 16 January 1915: ‘For conspicuous gallantry at Langemarck, 23rd-25th October, in voluntarily taking messages with great coolness under heavy rifle and shell fire, and again at Veldhoek, when he acted with similar gallantry under fire and was there wounded.’


Harold George Hodder was born in 1893 at Lowestoft, Suffolk and was a resident of Carlisle Road, Cambridge prior to the Great War. He served during that conflict on the Western Front with the Motorcyclist Section of the Royal Engineers from 17 August 1914.


In 1914, the Cambridge Independent Press published a number of articles from Corporal Hodder, as well as letters received from him by his father and Cambridge friends, giving his impressions of the war. Subsequently, whilst recovering from his wounds following the award of his D.C.M., he was interviewed by the same newspaper and details of how he came to be awarded the D.C.M. were published on 22 January 1915.


The following matching account with two illustrations can also be found in Deeds that Thrill the Empire: ‘On the night of October 22nd-23rd, 1914, the 1st Division, which had just arrived from the Aisne, was advancing from Poperinghe towards Langemarck. In the morning, near Boesinghe, the 3rd Brigade, on its left front, was fiercely attacked by the Germans, consisting almost entirely of new levies with scarcely two months’ training, who, though mown down by our fire, came on again and again with almost incredible courage and resolution. Though partly driven out of Langemarck, around which some fifteen hundred of their dead were afterwards counted, the enemy held on to a number of houses and several windmills, and they also held a curving line beyond the village, from which they were able to direct a heavy artillery and rifle-fire upon the road leading from Boesinghe. The work of carrying messages along this road was therefore one of the greatest possible danger. Nevertheless, volunteers were not wanting, and a young motorcyclist, Corporal H. G. Hodder, of the Reserve Signal Company, Royal Engineers, who was attached to the 3rd Brigade, particularly distinguished himself, by successfully conveying more than one message through the hottest fire. After driving the Germans back, the 1st Division had proceeded to entrench themselves, but in the evening of the 24th they were relieved by French Territorials and concentrated about Zillebeke, the 3rd Brigade alone remaining in their trenches until two French battalions should arrive to relieve them. As the latter failed to put in an appearance, Corporal Hodder was sent to investigate, and discovered them halted on a road some distance to the rear. When asked why they did not advance, they replied that they did not know where they were, and, as they had been fired upon, they believed that they had got between the British trenches and the German. Hodder tried to relieve their minds on this score and to persuade them to advance; but, his French not being equal to the occasion, he went back and fetched the Brigade-Major. That officer’s knowledge of the language happened to be but little better than his own, and some time elapsed before the Frenchmen got on the move. At last the order to march was given, but they had not proceeded very far when heavy firing began, and the artillery on either side chiming in, a furious fusillade was soon in progress, which continued the greater part of the night. During all this time Hodder was riding to and fro, endeavouring to get our gallant allies up to the trenches. It was a pitch-dark night, and on one journey he ran full tilt into a French gun-limber, the shaft of which, catching him on the shoulder, sent him flying off his machine. Happily, he was not hurt, and he continued riding about, picking up one company here and another there, and guiding them to the trenches, until at last the 3rd Brigade was relieved. The work he accomplished that night was of the highest importance, for if the Brigade had not been able to leave their trenches before daylight, they would have been obliged to remain there until the following night, although they were urgently required elsewhere. On the morning of October 31st - the most critical day in the whole of the first Battle of Ypres - the 3rd Brigade were entrenched in front of Veldhoek, to the west of Gheluvelt. At 4am Hodder was despatched with an important message from Divisional Headquarters to Brigade Headquarters.


www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208