Herbert John Hodgson (2 June 1893,

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

– 10 August 1974,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) is regarded as one of the most skilled printers of the twentieth century. After serving in the First World War, with

Roy Manning Pike Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

he printed the rare 1926 subscribers' edition of ''

Seven Pillars of Wisdom ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British Army Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), of serving as a military advisor to Bedouin forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire ...

'' by

T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...

. From 1927 to 1936 he worked at the

Gregynog Press The Gregynog Press, also known as Gwasg Gregynog, is a printing press and charity located at Gregynog Hall near Newtown in Powys, Wales. Early years Founded in 1922 by the sisters and art patrons Margaret and Gwendoline Davies, guided by Thom ...

for fine books in mid-Wales.

Service in the First World War

Hodgson joined the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

before the outbreak of war in 1914 and was assigned to the 24th (County of London) Battalion (The Queen’s), The London Regiment. After training he was sent to the front in France. In March 1915 he was in reserve at the battle of

Neuve Chapelle Neuve-Chapelle ( vls, Nieuwkappel) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. It was the site of a First World War battle in 1915. Geography Neuve-Chapelle is situated some northeast of Béthune and ...

. His first front-line engagements were at the battles of

Festubert Festubert is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. The village was on the Western Front during the First World War and was largely destroyed in the May 1915 Battle of Festubert. Geography A farming v ...

and

Givenchy Givenchy (, ) is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics of Parfums Givenchy. The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de ...

in May 1915. At Givenchy he was part of a group that held a German trench overnight under heavy fire and suffered heavy casualties. Among this group were Lance-Corporal

Leonard James Keyworth Leonard James Keyworth Victoria Cross, VC (12 August 1893 – 19 October 1915) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kingdom, B ...

, who won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for his role in that engagement, and Captain Donald Figg, who was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

for his bravery that night. Hodgson was later involved in the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

in September 1915 and the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in 1916. In 1917 he was slightly injured and he convalesced in England. He married Rebecca Moore in Southwark on 15 September 1917. Returning to the front he was transferred to the 9th

Royal Irish Fusiliers The Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's) was an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army, formed by the amalgamation of the 87th (Prince of Wales's Irish) Regiment of Foot and the 89th (Princess Victoria's) Regiment of Foot in ...

. As a result of a further engagement in April 1918 east of Wulverghem near Messines he fell into a shell hole and found a mud-encrusted book. He stuffed this into his pocket and carried on, but he was knocked out by a shell explosion. When he became conscious he discovered that the book was a Bible. An officer told him to keep it for luck. 92 years later the original owner of the Bible was traced. Suffering from shell-shock, Hodgson was consigned to light duties for the remainder of the war.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Trained as a skilled printer, in 1923 Hodgson was contracted by

to help print the valuable subscribers' edition of ''

'' by

. The book had illustrations by

Eric Kennington Eric Henri Kennington (12 March 1888 – 13 April 1960) was an English sculptor, artist and illustrator, and an official war artist in both World Wars. As a war artist, Kennington specialised in depictions of the daily hardships endured by s ...

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...

, Paul Nash,

Blair Hughes-Stanton Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood-engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Woo ...

and his wife

Gertrude Hermes Gertrude Anna Bertha Hermes (18 August 1901 – 9 May 1983) was a British wood-engraver and sculptor. Hermes was a member of the English Wood Engraving Society (1925–31) and exhibited with the Society of Wood Engravers, the Royal Academy and ...

Gregynog Press

After completing work on the ''Seven Pillars'' in 1926 Hodgson moved in 1927 to the

near

Newtown, Powys Newtown ( cy, Y Drenewydd) is a town in Powys, Wales. It lies on the River Severn in the community of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It was designated a new town in 1967 and saw population growt ...

, which specialised in the production of fine books. He remained there urntil 1936. In her history of the Gregynog Press, Dorothy A. Harrop reports that Robert Maynard (the Controller of the Press) "came to be of the opinion that Hodgson was probably the best pressman in the country at that time. … Hodgson’s name appears for the first time in the Colophon and his masterly touch is already apparent. … The printing of these…… represents a triumph for Hodgson."''A History of the Gregynog Press'', by Dorothy A. Harrop, 1980.

Return to London

Concerned about the employment prospects of his growing family, Hodgson returned to London in 1936. In the

London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

he lost one of his sisters. His wife died of cancer in 1956. Hodgson continued to work as a printer until he retired in 1963. He died peacefully in 1974, leaving four sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Herbert John 1893 births 1974 deaths Military personnel from London London Regiment soldiers Royal Irish Fusiliers soldiers British Army personnel of World War I British printers