Edward Hodgson (1885 – 4 August 1919) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward. He originally played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with his hometown club

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

before joining

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side Burnley in 1911 at the age of 25. He won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

with the club in

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

. Hodgson went on to make 137 appearances for Burnley, scoring 62 goals. He fought in the

Manchester Regiment The Manchester Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1958. The regiment was created during the 1881 Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot and the 96th ...

, reaching rank of sergeant, during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but still represented Burnley as a wartime guest player, scoring 39 goals in 62 matches. Hodgson contracted a kidney problem while on service and died at Whalley Military Hospital on 4 August 1919. He was buried at Burnley Cemetery.
CWGC casualty record Serjeant E Hodgson - accessed 4 May 2023.

Honours

Burnley *

: 1913–14 FA Cup, 1913–14

References

Sources * * * 1885 births 1919 deaths Footballers from Chorley English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Burnley F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players British Army personnel of World War I Manchester Regiment soldiers Chorley F.C. players British military personnel killed in World War I {{England-footy-forward-1880s-stub