HODGETTS, Alfred

Alfred Hodgetts attended Wollescote school and had enlisted as a pre-war regular soldier before 1914. He was probably recalled from the Reserve to join the 3rd Battalion of the Worcesters in the British Expeditionary Force at Aldershot in August 1914. The Worcesters were sent to France on the 12th August and advanced to Mons. They were forced into retreat as far as the Marne but then drove the German troops back to the Aisne. This was the turning point in the opening campaign of the Great War and saved Europe from a German victory. It was during this vital action that Private Alfred Hodgetts was seriously wounded. He was taken to the base hospital at Le Mans where he died on the 24th September. He is buried in Le Mans West Cemetery (A 24) and commemorated on the Lye and Wollescote, Lye church and Wollescote school Memorials.