Walter's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Son of Walter Henry and Jane Hodkinson, of 9 Grange Rd, Macclesfield, Cheshire.
MILITARY SERVICE
Walter enlisted in the local 7th Cheshire Regiment, receiving service number 2195. When Private Hodkinson was allocated a new six-digit service number in the reorganisation of 1917, it was incorrectly recorded as 290349, which seems to have been the correct service number for Sidney Thomas Blackwell. Private Hodkinson's number was corrected to 290439 on the Medal Rolls and other documents, but not on his Medal Index Card.
Private Hodkinson's death was reported in the Macclesfield Times on 25 January 1918:
PRIVATE W HODKINSON KILLED
Mr and Mrs W Hodkinson, Grange Road, Macclesfield, have been officially notified that their son, Pte Walter Hodkinson, Ches Regt, was killed in action in the Palestine fighting on January 3rd. Pte Hodkinson was well-known in Macclesfield and at one time was in the employ of the Macclesfield Equitable Provident Society Ltd.
COMMEMORATION
Private Walter Hodkinson is buried in Grave Ref. S. 63. in Jerusalem War Cemetery. His father asked for the inscription “TILL WE MEET” to be added to his headstone. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Walter Hodkinson, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War website.
In Macclesfield, Walter Hodkinson is commemorated on the Park Green, Town Hall and St Michael's Church war memorials, and on St John's Church Roll of Honour.
SOURCES
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Macclesfield Times: 25 January 1918
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.