COLONEL A.P. HODGES, MC, TD, FRGS (1894-1977)
Alexander Phelps Hodges (The Green 1910-12) entered RMA Woolwich on leaving Sherborne and served thereafter with the Royal Field Artillery. At the end of the 1914-18 War, during which he served with distinction, being awarded the MC, he joined the British Military Mission to Siberia and was involved in escaping from the Bolsheviks by making a hazardous journey on horse and on foot across Russia and China including the Gobi Desert.
A regular soldier throughout his life he was given command of the 13th Anti-Tank Regiment during the 1939-45 War and served in the Middle East. In post-war Berlin he was Chief Allied Liaison Officer between the four occupying powers and the fifteen Allied Military Missions. He was in Berlin throughout the Russian blockade until retiring from the army in 1950.
On retirement he settled at Sandford Orcas and was a Governor of the School from 1962-72. He was President of the Old Shirburnian Society 1971-72. A Memorial Service was held for him in the School Chapel in February 1978.
OS Annual Report, December 1978.
Alexander Phelps Hodges MC, TD, FRGS (1894-1977)
Born on 14 July 1894 at Great Barrington in the State of Massachusetts, USA.
Son of Arthur Alexander Hodges, architect & author, and Janet Arnall Hodges (née Pitkethly), 101, Park Avenue, New York, USA.
Brother: Arnall Pitkethly Hodges (1896-1945).
Attended King’s School, Ely, Cambridge.
Attended Sherborne School (The Green) September 1910-July 1912: 6th form (Army Class); 2nd XV; Bowen History Prize 1912.
Woolwich, Gentleman Cadet, September 1912.
WW1, Royal Field Artillery; 2nd Lieut., 17 July 1914; France and Belgium, 1914-1918; Siberia, 1919; promoted Lieutenant, 9 June 1915; acting Captain, 25 August 1916; acting Major, 25 September 1916; Captain, 3 November 1917; Military Cross, 1 January 1918; severely wounded, 21 March 1918; mentioned in despatches, 1 January 1919.
Military Mission to Siberia, 1919-1920; escaped across Gobi Desert to Pekin 1920. FRGS 1920; retired 1921 as Major.
3 October 1925 married at Montreal, Quebec, Canada to Marie Madeline White (née Fayou) (1893-1973).
WW2, Colonel (Legion of Honour, Croix de Guerre avec Palme, Syrian Order of Honour, 1st class; Gold Medal Lebanese Order of Merit).
Sherborne School Governor 1962-1972.
President of the OS Society 1971.
Died on 16 December 1977 at Old Corn Mill, Sandford Orcas, Dorset.
Buried on 22 December 1977 at Sandford Orcas, Dorset.
A Memorial Service was held in February 1978 in Sherborne School Chapel.
Author: Major Phelps Hodges, Britmis [British Military Mission Siberia]. A Great Adventure of the War, being an account of Allied intervention in Siberia and of an escape across the Gobi to Peking (London: Jonathan Cape, 1931)