HODNETT, George

George Hodnett lived in the High Street, Wordsley, and was both chorister and bell-ringer at the church. By trade he was a glass cutter at Stuarts. He was a pre-war volunteer for the South Staffs Territorials (Number 30) in the 1/5th Battalion which became part of the 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade in the 46th (North Midland) Division. They went to the Western Front on the 5th March 1915 and served in the Ypres sector for three months. They were then transferred to Artois early in October to reinforce the units still fighting the Battle of Loos. They were given the difficult task of attacking the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8 in front of which many other units had failed. They attacked over open ground at 2 o’clock on the 13th October. It was nearly half a mile to the German wire and a third of the men were casualties, including Private George Hodnett who was killed. He was 30 years of age and is commemorated on the Loos and Wordsley Memorials.