Ends
of the Earth Hodgsons
courtesy of Claude Irving Hodgson
Across
Australia
While
on holiday in Western Australia, my wife and son and I decided to motor
the Nullarbor plain and go to Sydney. We dispatched some luggage by
train to be picked up later. When the time came to visit the rail depot
we were met by a man who to us seemed at the time acting rather odd.
"What is
up with you?" I asked him.
"That's my name," he replied.
And where do you come from?"
"Caldewgate," he replied.
You could hace
knocked me down with a feather. Caldewgate is a district of Carlisle
I know well.
"You must
be Catholic," I asked.
"Yes," he replied, "How did you know that?"
"Well, all the Hodgson families who I knew in Caldewgate were
Catholics."
His parents had
moved to Hull and during the war both were killed in the blitz on Hull.
He returned to Carlisle to do army service. Afterwards he was discharged
and having no family he decided to emigrate to Sydney.
The
Chinese Connection
I took a job with
Qantas Air Ways in Sydney and worked with customs and excise. During
the time I was there I had a request for cargo for a Mr. Hodgson. I
just had to see if this person had the Hodgson nose, etc. so I went
to meet this gentleman in the front office.
"Mr. Hodgson!"
I called.
"Yes," came a voice from the far end of the office, "That's
me."
The gentleman was
a Chinese man from Hong Kong. You see, we are not all off the Vikings.
Years later my
eldest brother's son, who also lives in Perth, Western Australia, married
a Chinese girl but so far there are no little Hodgsons!
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