HODGETTS, William Booth

William Booth Hodgetts was born on 27 may, 1895, to Booth Hodgetts and his wife, Helen Margurita, nee Strong. His mother died in 1898 and this may have been what prompted his father to emigrate to Australia. He must have married again, because William had two half sisters, Lilian Helen Hodgetts, born 1901, and Joan Patricia Hodgetts, born 1916. At the time he enlisted, Bill Hodgetts was 20 years and 8 months old and had been working as a farm labourer. He was single, 5' 7' in height, about average for that time,and gave his religion as Church of England. When he enlisted, Bill Hodgetts gave his address as 112 Hotham St., East Melbourne, the same address as his father, and went to the Melbourne Town Hall to volunteer for the war. He already had some military training, having been in the Senior Cadets for four years at Bankstown, NSW.

He was called up on 10 January, 1916, and placed for military training with the 3rd Depot Battalion at Royal Park .On 3 February, he was transferred to Maribynong and placed with the Field Artillery, 24th Depot Battalion; on 4th February he was again transferred to the 20th Reinforcements and named as a Gunner with the 4 Field Artillery Brigade, 5th Reinforcements. From here, the new troops were sent to Egypt and on 1 April, 1916, Bill Hodgetts joined the Artillery Training School at Tel-el-Kebir. With training finished, the 4th F.A.B.  embarked from Alexandria for France on board the SS Lake Manitoba for England, probably landing at Portsmouth. Certainly, his record says that on 18 December, 1916, at Fort Wallington, Bill Hodgetts committed a military crime 'Hesitating to obey an order given by an NCO' and was fined two days pay. Fort Wallington was one of a series of small forts defending Portsmouth Harbour, equipped with heavy artillery, so perhaps the 'crime' occurred during prectice with the gun emplacements

On 2 January, 1917,the 4th Field Artillery Brigade was sent to France, proceeding from Folkestone, marching to Etaples on 6 January and being taken on strength as a Driver on the 2nd Division Artillery Column, with the 5th F.A.B. Drivers were charged with using 4-6 horses to drag the big guns up to the position where they were needed, a dangerous role.

In February, the Germans began their retreat to the Hindenburg Line. The Australian troops had suffered many casualties in the early battles on the Somme, with some 23,000 casualties over 45 days. In March, 1917, AIF troops were involved in pushing the Germans back in the First Battle of Bullecourt, another disaster, with the Anzac 4th Division suffering over 3,000 casualties and 1,170 men being taken as prisoners of war. On 15 April 1917, a  German counter-attack near the town of Lagnicourt was resisted by the 1st and 2nd Division, with several of the artillery batteries which had been lost early in the day being regained and the guns reclaimed. On 3 May, the 2nd Division, 5th and 6th Artillery Brigades, with Bill Hodgetts as a driver for the heavy artillery,  took part in the Second Battle of Bullecourt, holding on to their gains until relieved by the 1st Division. 

He would also have been at the Third Battle of Ypres (Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Mouquet Farm, In Broodseinde) between September and November, 1917. On 22 August, the 2nd Division, the 2nd Division relieved the 1st Division in the battle of Mouquet Farm; the 2nd came under heavy attack  by German artillery form the front, falnk and rear. After 12 days they had sustained 6,846 casualties and were relieved by the 4th Division on 26 August. On 20 September, the 1st and 2nd Divisions were in the attack at Menin Wood.  It must have been a huge relief to Bill Hodgetts when he was given two weeks leave to the UK on 17 November, returning to Belgium probably on 31 November. 

On 5 April, 1918, he was ill and taken to hospital. On 9th he was admitted to the L. of C. Hospital (Our Lady of Charity?), and discharged back to the Australian Base, having had 30 days away. On 19 May, he was taken on strength with the 2nd Division Ammunition/ Artillery Column ex the 5th Field Artillery Brigade, but two days later was returned to the 5th F.A.B and appointed as a Driver. He remined with the 5th FAB until the end of the war, returning from England on the Rio Negro on 29 May and disembarking in Melbourne on 5 July. He was discharged from further service on 3 September, 1919.

In the post war years, Bill Hodgetts moved to Forbes, NSW. In 1932, he married Elsie Reed. Their son, Sidney Angus Hodgetts was born on 2 January, 1933. In 1936, the couple were still at Forbes, but  when     Japan entered into World War 2, Bill signed up again, serving in the Citizens Military Force as a Sergeant from 1942-1945. By 1954, they were at Albury, where Bill built a house at 623 Edwards St. He was then working as a watchman. He died in 1954, at 150A Waugh Rd., Albury and is buried in the Union Rd Lawn Cemetery.