Born on 13th October 1895 Harry Hoddinott was the only son of William Joe and Mary Hoddinott living at that time in East Farm, Hill Deverell in Wiltshire. Whilst William’s employment is unknown it is likely that he was involved in agriculture in some way. By 1901 when the census was taken Harry’s family had moved to Brent Knoll in Somerset, where William was working as a Milkman. In the early summer of 1908 the family moved to the Shipston area with Harry joining the Boys School on the 29th June. He was noted as living at Mitford Bridge and his recent education had been at Stucombe, near Minehead.  Harry stayed at the school until he was fourteen and left on the 17th December 1909. His military records show that at the outbreak of war he was living in a village called Brompton Ralph on the edge of the Breadon Hills in Somerset and he is recorded as enlisting at Wiveliscombe. The 43rd (Wessex) Division was a Territorial Force in existence before the outbreak of war. The Division, including the 1st/4th (Prince Albert’s) Somerset Light Infantry in which Harry was serving, went to India in October 1914 and remained there, sending many drafts to the Middle East. When the Division arrived in India, they were the very first Territorial troops to do so and received a warm reception in Madras. Their first Christmas in India is recorded as one to remember. They remained in India until early 1916 when they moved to Mesopotamia as relief troops. In November 1915 the Army sustained its first defeat at the hands of the Turks in the Battle of Ctesiphon and retreated to Kut-al-Amara where, in December, they were surrounded and besieged. The British cavalry managed to break out, but the bulk of the force remained besieged, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to relieve them in a series of actions that took place between the 4th and the 23rd January 1916. At the end February 1916 the 1st/4th SLI landed at Basra and for several days, according to the Regimental History, “camped amidst pleasant surroundings”.  At midnight of the 24th/25th February the Somersets received orders to proceed upstream, by river, the last of them arriving at Orah on the 3rd March.  They moved out on the evening of the 6th March and marched to a bivouac position at 2am on the 7th ready for an attack on Dujailah Redoubt.  In this attack they had the job of providing supporting rifle and machine gun fire and are reported to have acquitted themselves splendidly. Unfortunately the operation was not successful and ended in a general retirement, the Somersets forming part of the rear-guard. A further attempt was made to relieve the forces at Kut-al-Amara, but this too was defeated and the total loss in the attempts was 23,000 British and Indian soldiers. Eventually on the 29th April 1916 the 8,000 surviving soldiers finally surrendered Kut-al-Amara and were put into slave labour until the surrender of the Ottoman Empire in October 1918, by which time more than half of them had died. In May 1916 the Somersets returned to Basra and camped at the Makina Masus Camp where they settled into a routine of drill and parades, whilst their depleted numbers were built up. On the 12th July 1916 they started a move to Shaiba, which was complete by the 15th. Quite quickly sickness attacked the battalion and the brackish water in the wells was responsible. This sickness stopped them taking part in the advance to Baghdad. In September the Battalion was split into different groups who were sent off to separate duties and in October 150 men were sent to join a column used to reinforce the front line. In December more sickness broke out, this time Beri-beri, which affected a large number of the soldiers and took most of the month to overcome. The Evesham Journal of the 5th May 1917 reported: On May 2 Mr W J Hoddinott of Mitford Bridge, Shipston-on-Stour received official notification that his only son Pte Harry Roy Hoddinott of the Somerset Regt had died on the hospital ship Marania and was buried at sea on April 23. Pte Hoddinott was educated at Shipston-on-Stour Board School and his sunny disposition made him popular with everyone. On leaving Mitford he went to Wiveliscombe, Somerset and was apprenticed to the cabinet making works. He afterwards worked for the Somerset Cabinet Works in Bridgewater, and made good progress in his trade. During his residence here he was a valued member of the parish church choir. He was fond of games and played football for Wiveliscombe and Bridgewater clubs. He joined the Territorials and was training on Salisbury Plain when war was declared. He at once volunteered for active service abroad, and went to India in October 1914 and was for a time stationed at Ambala. When men were required from India to strengthen the force at the Persian Gulf he volunteered but was rejected because of his youth. On attaining the age of 20 he again volunteered and was accepted and had been on service in Mesopotamia since Sept 1916. He was in good health until March when notice was received from the WO that he was suffering from a slight attack of Beri-beri and had been sent back to the Freeman Thomas Hospital, Bombay. It was also stated that should the fever recur he would be sent home. His father received a letter on Monday week dated April 11, stating that he was in the Bombay hospital. Harry is commemorated on the Basra War Memorial to the Missing in Iraq. He is also remembered on the Council School Memorial.

Mike Wells