LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive
Added 28.10.11. Minor edits 22.3.2014. Information added 22.10.2019
IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION
1550, Private James HODGES — 11th Hussars
Birth & early life
Born in Bermondsey, Surrey c.1833. [NB "Surrey" at that time included what is now most of London south of the Thames.
Enlistment
Enlisted at Westminster on the 2nd of August 1852.
Age: 19.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: Currier.
Service
Sent to Scutari on the 18th of December 1854 and invalided to England on the 27th of February 1855.
From Private to Corporal: 16th of September 1857.
Reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 5th of March 1859.
Discharge & pension
Discharged, "by claim", from Newbridge on the 13th of July 1864.
Conduct: "good". In possession of one Good Conduct badge.
Medals
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Further detailed medal information archived.
Awarded a Special Campaign pension (no date shown).
Commemorations
Attended the first Balaclava Banquet in 1875.
Listed as a member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1877 and 1879.
Received £15 in 1890 & 1891 from the Balaclava Light Brigade Relief Fund when living at 4, Eldridge Road, Bermondsey. His age was shown as 58 years.
Attended the Annual Dinners, 1890 and 1892.
He appeared with other Crimean War veterans as a "Battle of Balaklava Hero" in theLord Mayor's Show on the 9th of November 1890. A specially printed programme for this event lists all these men and James Hodges is shown travelling in the 13th carriage in the procession. [RM]
Life after service
After leaving the service Hodges lived in Bermondsey, London.
1871 Census
4, Eldridge Road, Bermondsey.
James Hodges, 36, Brewers Labourer, born Bermondsey.
Juliet, 30, born Frome, Somerset.
1881 Census
33, Rouel Road, Bermondsey.
The 1881 Census show him as aged 46, a Bricklayer's Labourer. His wife Juliet, 40, was shown as born in Somerset. Two children are shown: James, 9, and Thomas, 2, both born in Surrey. [RM]
1891 Census
4, Eldridge Road, Bermondsey.
James Hodges, 57, Bricklayer's Labourer, born Bermondsey.
Juliet, 50, born Somerset.
Two children shown: James E. 19, Thomas H. 12.
"Yorkshire Hero in Distress", Leeds Mercury, 13 February 1892
(Click on image to enlarge)
Death & burial
The death of a man aged 59 of this name is recorded in the St Olave district of Surrey (which includes Bermondsey) in the March quarter of 1893. There is also a man aged 62 whose death is recorded in the June quarter of 1899, which could be him, but there is an age discrepancy. [RM]
Death registration
James Hodges, aged 59 years, March Quarter 1893, St Olave. [CP]
The death of James Hodges, "Balaclava Hero", Newspaper?, 5 February 1893
(Click on image to enlarge)
Further information
See Dutton, Forgotten Heroes, rvsd edition, p.435, for a group photograph taken in July 1890. See also p.196
1901 Census
35, Rowel [presumably Rouel] Road, Bermondsey, South London.
Juliet Hodges, 60, widow, born Somerset.
One son shown: Thomas H., 22.
1911 Census
35, Rowel [Rouel] Road, Bermondsey.
Juliet Hodges, widow, 70, Great Elm, Somerset.
Thomas H 32.
Death registered
Juliet Hodges, 76, June Quarter 1917, St Olave.
References & acknowledgements
Newspaper clippings, additional information about the Light Brigade Relief Fund and Balaclava Commemoration, registration of death, and Census information for 1871, 1891, 1901, 1911, kindly provided by Chris Poole.
