Pte 57713 John Hodgkinson

• Age: 20
• From: Beeston, Notts
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 23rd April 1917
• Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
  Panel Ref: Bay 3

John Hodgkinson was born in Beeston in 1896, the only surviving child of John and Mary (née Oldham) Hodgkinson. His father John senior was well known in Beeston as 'Johnnie Sweep' as he was, like his father before him, a chimney sweep. By 1911 he was living almost next door to the chapel. By this time, William junior, now 14, had found work as 'page boy' - that is, a young male servant.

He enlisted in Nottingham and was formerly 15663 Army Cyclist Corps and was serving with the 18th Battalion, Kings (Liverpool) Regiment as Private No 57713 when he was killed in action on the 9^th April 1917 aged 20 during the Battle of Arras.

On that day the Battalion had occupied old German Trenches at Henniel on the Arras sector of the front. In the evening, it moved to a sunken road to support an attack by the 18th and 19th Battalion’s of the Manchester Regiment. Elements of the Pals were to provide mopping up parties for both the Manchester Battalions, who were to move forward at 18.00pm. However, as the orders were not received until 17.45pm,it proved impossible to join the Manchester’s in time for their attack and the mopping up parties followed from where they presumed that the assaulting waves had left.

By this time, the German retaliatory barrage had begun, and the British Front Line was so heavily shelled, that the Battalion took up position in the shell holes in front. As the situation was chaotic, some troops on the right flank had begun to pullback, it was decided to withdraw to the British front line under cover of darkness to consolidate. Eventually, by morning the position became clearer, and the Battalion was able to move forward to occupy the old front line which had been vacated by the Germans, who had retired over the next crest.

Altogether the Battalion’s losses were four officers and one hundred and one other ranks, killed, wounded or missing.

John's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

He was posthumously awarded the Victory Medal and the British Medal. and his Army financial effects of £2 7s 8d were paid to his mother, on the 7th November 1917 and she received his War Gratuity of £6 on 11 October 1919.

He is also commemorated on the Beeston War Memmorial, Nottinghamshire.


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