Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Date of Discharge

02/07/1917

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

22/05/1892

Place of Birth

Kingston, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Robert and Margaret Hodgson (parents), Colac, Victoria

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

2 Field Artillery Brigade AIF

Mention in Despatches, Croix de Guerre

Hodgson entered the Royal Military College at Duntroon in the first intake on 22 June 1911. He was a member of the guard of honour at the Canberra commencement ceremony on 12 March 1913 and graduated on 14 August 1914. Appointed as a Lieutenant with the 5th Battery of the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, Hodgson arrived on Gallipoli soon after the landing. By the third day after the landing Hodgson was acting as a Forward Observation Officer for his battery when he was sniped, suffering a broken pelvis. He underwent several operations in Egypt and England which left one leg shorter than the other requiring the use of a walking stick. In 1918 he was attached to Army Headquarters in Melbourne and became head of military intelligence in 1925. He resigned from the military in 1934 and in 1935 he became the Secretary of the Department of External Affairs and entered the diplomatic corps in 1945. He was involved in the early years of the United Nations and was Australian delegate to the first General Assembly and Australian representative on the Security Council. He married Muriel McDowell on 18 October 1919. He died of cancer on 24 January 1958 in Sydney.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
AWM Collections Reoords : J00742, P03954.001
Australian Dictionary of Biography online
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial