LANCE CORPORAL GEORGE HUDSON, 9TH BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT, (ILKLEY PALS). KILLED IN ACTION 6TH JULY 1916.
LANCE CORPORAL GEORGE HUDSON, 9TH BATTALION WEST RIDING
REGIMENT, (ILKLEY PALS). KILLED IN ACTION 6TH JULY 1916.
Little 6
year old Annie Hudson and her four year old brother, William, were left orphans
on the 6th July 1916. During their brief lives, they had already seen their
mother, Mabel, die at the age of 25, three years earlier, now their father,
George Gregory Hudson, succumbed to the wounds sustained whilst fighting for
his country.
George Hudson was not a native of Ilkley but had been born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. His father Charles, a gardener, moved around the country looking for work opportunities and took with him his wife Annie and their large family. At the turn of the 20th Century the Hudsons arrived in Ilkley and eventually moved to Corn Mill House on Railway Road. Charles worked as a gardener and opened a florists shop at 14 Skipton Road. George, now in his early twenties worked for J. Spencer and Sons who were cab proprietors and a coal merchants.
In May 1909 George married Mabel Lister at St Margaret's Church and together set up home at 8 Dean Street, where their two children where born. Meanwhile Charles Hudson had travelled to the USA and sought work in the town of Eloise, Michigan. Despite the death of his wife and having to raise two children, George decided to enlist in the army at the beginning of the war. Like many men from the town he joined the Ilkley Pal's Company of the 9th Duke of Wellingtons Regiment and within days was sent to Dorset to begin his military training.
The Ilkley Pal's were posted to France in 1915, where George acted as a servant to the colonel of the battalion. He was also wounded in the hand and spent time at a base hospital. During the first days of the Battle of the Somme, the 9th Dukes had been held in reserve only moving into the front line on the 3rd of July. During the following two days the battalion was involved in a number of minor attacks, probing the German defenses near to the village of Contalmaison. In one of these actions George Hudson was badly wounded. He was evacuated to the 36th Casualty Clearing Station which was behind the lines at Heilly Station. A nurse at the hospital, Vernon Harcourt, wrote to Annie Hudson to explain what happened to her son. " George had wounds to his neck and spine his condition was hopeless and he passed away peacefully at 1.45pm on the 6th July. We buried him in a nearby cemetery where local French women laid flowers on his grave".
Back in Ilkley, his grieving mother, Annie Hudson, determined to take action. She had several other sons who were nearing an age when they would have to join up. Indeed a younger son,Jack, had already tried to enlist but had been discharged when his age was discovered to be only 15 years. In August 1916 she gathered up her children along with her orphaned grand-children and set sail aboard a neutral American ship bound for the United States. The family joined Charles in Eloise where they would spend the rest of their lives. For little William Hudson, however, this would not be for long and within a year, like his father, he was dead.
Lance Corporal George Gregory Hudson lies in Heilly Station Military Cemetery and is remembered on Ilkley war Memorial.
George Hudson was not a native of Ilkley but had been born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. His father Charles, a gardener, moved around the country looking for work opportunities and took with him his wife Annie and their large family. At the turn of the 20th Century the Hudsons arrived in Ilkley and eventually moved to Corn Mill House on Railway Road. Charles worked as a gardener and opened a florists shop at 14 Skipton Road. George, now in his early twenties worked for J. Spencer and Sons who were cab proprietors and a coal merchants.
In May 1909 George married Mabel Lister at St Margaret's Church and together set up home at 8 Dean Street, where their two children where born. Meanwhile Charles Hudson had travelled to the USA and sought work in the town of Eloise, Michigan. Despite the death of his wife and having to raise two children, George decided to enlist in the army at the beginning of the war. Like many men from the town he joined the Ilkley Pal's Company of the 9th Duke of Wellingtons Regiment and within days was sent to Dorset to begin his military training.
The Ilkley Pal's were posted to France in 1915, where George acted as a servant to the colonel of the battalion. He was also wounded in the hand and spent time at a base hospital. During the first days of the Battle of the Somme, the 9th Dukes had been held in reserve only moving into the front line on the 3rd of July. During the following two days the battalion was involved in a number of minor attacks, probing the German defenses near to the village of Contalmaison. In one of these actions George Hudson was badly wounded. He was evacuated to the 36th Casualty Clearing Station which was behind the lines at Heilly Station. A nurse at the hospital, Vernon Harcourt, wrote to Annie Hudson to explain what happened to her son. " George had wounds to his neck and spine his condition was hopeless and he passed away peacefully at 1.45pm on the 6th July. We buried him in a nearby cemetery where local French women laid flowers on his grave".
Back in Ilkley, his grieving mother, Annie Hudson, determined to take action. She had several other sons who were nearing an age when they would have to join up. Indeed a younger son,Jack, had already tried to enlist but had been discharged when his age was discovered to be only 15 years. In August 1916 she gathered up her children along with her orphaned grand-children and set sail aboard a neutral American ship bound for the United States. The family joined Charles in Eloise where they would spend the rest of their lives. For little William Hudson, however, this would not be for long and within a year, like his father, he was dead.
Lance Corporal George Gregory Hudson lies in Heilly Station Military Cemetery and is remembered on Ilkley war Memorial.
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