Why was a WW1 hero’s name and age 21 scrawled on a £10 note? Cryptic message found on the back of a modern-day tenner
MYSTERY surrounds a cryptic message with the details of a World War One hero scrawled on the back of a modern-day £10 note.
Claire Carney withdrew the cash from a machine in Norwich but was baffled when she read the handwritten note detailing John Hodgson's name, age and regiment.
The 44-year-old typed the details in online and came across a history website, which revealed Private Hodgon's remarkable role in the war.
Florist Claire believes she has a theory behind the mystery of the note and told the : “I like the idea that someone wrote his details on the note because they didn’t want his name and the ultimate sacrifice he made to be forgotten.”
The £10 notes featuring Charles Darwin have been in circulation since 2000 but are gradually being replaced by polymer versions.
According to the background on the Macclesfield Reflects website, John Hodgson was born in the town on December 19, 1894.
He is the son of Margaret and Albert, a house decorator, and had seven siblings – Ethel, Esther, Hannah, George, Mary, Harry and Elsie.
John worked as an embroiderer before he enrolled at Macclesfield Technical School in September 1909 to further his education.
He later worked as a machinist at the Sunderland Street Slipper Works.
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John joined the 7th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment and after a period of training as part of 159th Brigade, 53rd (Welsh) Division, received orders to equip for service in an undisclosed location in the Mediterranean.
In July 1915 they sailed from Devonport to Alexandria in Egypt, then on to the island of Lemnos on August 4.
On the evening of August 8, the Battalion arrived off the coast of Gallipoli and after landing, they came under shell fire at about 8.30am before receiving orders to attack in the direction of a dip in the hills behind Anafarta Saghir.
By the end of the day, Private Hodgson was missing and he was assumed to have died on August 9, 1915.
He was 21 and has no known grave, however, he is commemorated on the Helles Memorial in Turkey and the Macclesfield War Memorial.
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