HUDSON

		Source
		CWGC	SDGW	Uttoxeter Advertiser	Other
Parents	John and Martha Hudson	Yes
Where born	Utoxeter		Yes		4
When born	Self: Chapel Gardens, Uttoxeter			1a	4
Address	16, Short Street, Uttoxeter (parents)	Yes		1b, 1c, 1d
Spouse
Children
Employment Before Joining up
Where enlisted	Uttoxeter		Yes		4
Regiment	North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales’s)	Yes	Yes	1a
Unit	1^st Bn.	Yes	Yes
Rank	Private	Yes	Yes	1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e	4
Service Number	9992	Yes	Yes
Service Number	9962				4
Date of Death	1 September 1916	Yes	Yes	1c, 1d, 1e	4
Age at time of death	21	Yes
Where Killed or died	Somme – Delville Wood
Where Killed or died	France/Flanders		Yes	1c, 1d, 1e
How he died	Killed in Action		Yes	1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e	4
Location of Grave or Memorial	Thiepval Memorial for the Missing - Pier and Face 14 B and 14 C.	Yes			5
Location of Grave or Memorial	Uttoxeter Town War Memorial				4
Awards

Joseph joined the army before the outbreak of war^{1a, 4} and saw a lot of fighting. He took part in six battles without receiving a scratch^{1a, 4} before he was finally killed in action.

At the end of September 1916 the Uttoxeter Advertiser^1b published an extract from a letter sent by his commanding officer to his mother:,

"You will have heard by now of the death of your son, Pte. J. Hudson. He was killed in action some days ago, and suffered no pain at all. As his platoon commander, I should like to tell you how very much we all sympathise with you in your loss. 'Joe' Hudson was a great favourite in our platoon, and he was a man whom we could always rely upon in any fighting...".

The Uttoxeter Advertiser roll of honour says that he was killed in action at Delville Wood. He has no known grave and for all anyone knows he may still be in the wood with the hundreds of British, South African and German soldiers who still lie buried in the trenches and shell-holes in the wood.

His body was either never found or not identified, so his name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.


Delville Wood is now a beautiful and tranquil place, but beneath its tranquil appearance it still carries the scars of the trenches and shelling of the Great War. The zig-zagged depression in the foreground of this picture is the remains of one old trench-line.