Colonel John William LODGE
Remembrance - The Yorkshire Regiment, First World War
Colonel John William LODGE
Close window to return to main page
Colonel John William LODGE

Select the thumbnail image above for a larger photo which opens in a new window.

Colonel John William LODGE

3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Commanding 2nd (Home Service) Garr. Bn. Son of the late Robert and Mary Lodge, of Bishopdale, Aysgarth. Commanded 3rd Bn. in the South African Campaign. Died at home on 23 August 1917. Aged 60.
Buried AYSGARTH (ST. ANDREW) CHURCHYARD.

Biographical note on J W Lodge from a book put together by Diana Summers on the men named on the Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, War Memorial.

John William Lodge of Bishopsdale was born in Whalley Bridge, Cheshire (see Note below) on the 8th August 1855 and was christened in Manchester Cathedral on the 27th September 1856. After his mother, Mary, died when he was an infant, he lived with his father and sisters in Southport. His first school was also in Southport. He was admitted to Gonville and Caius College in 1874 where the matriculation book states that he had been at Harrow. However, his name does not appear on the Harrow Register. He graduated MA in 1879 and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1883.

The records of the Green Howards reveal that John joined the 3rd Battalion, the Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment. He was gazetted into this volunteer battalion in 1874, was made Captain in 1879, an Honorary Major in 1889 and Honorary Lieutenant Colonel in 1894. On the 1st March 1900, the start of the 2nd Boer War, he sailed with the battalion to Africa on the troopship Assaye but, unfortunately, no records of the Battalion survive from that war. The militia records that he was Commandant of Tankara Horse Farm in 1900 and commanded the Battalion from 1906 until his retirement in 1912.

In the report of his death on the 23rd August 1917, the local newspaper records:

The death took place at The Rookery, Bishopdale, Aysgarth, yesterday morning week (sic), after a very brief illness, of Colonel J.W. Lodge, of the Yorkshire Regiment. Colonel Lodge had been connected with the Yorkshire Regiment for over 43 years. He served with the 3rd Battalion throughout the South African War, and was in possession of the Queen's Medal with three clasps, the King's Medal with two clasps, and the Coronation Medal. From June 1906 to August 1912, when he retired, he commanded the 3rd Battalion. At the outbreak of the present war he volunteered for service, and was appointed as second in command of a battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, and afterwards given command of a Special Reserve Battalion, a post which he held until his death. Of a cheery and kindly disposition, always out to do good, Colonel Lodge was loved by all who had the pleasure of knowing him, and particularly by those who served with him.

He was the only son of Mr. Robert Lodge, of Bishopdale, and was born in 1855. He was educated at St. Peter's, York, took his M.A. at Cambridge, and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1883. As Squire of Bishopdale, where his family had lived for many years, he took a very deep interest in local and county affairs. Col. Lodge was a J.P. for the North Riding of Yorkshire, a member of the North Riding Council and of the Yorkshire Fishery Board, and also a member of the District Council. He was a staunch Conservative, and well known as a skilful grouse shot and angler, and was for many years an enthusiastic follower of otter hounds. A brave soldier, a keen sportsman, and a gallant gentleman, his loss will be widely felt.
Craven Herald, 31 August 1917

John never married and lived at The Rookery at Bishopsdale, a house that had been built by the family in mid-Victorian times and was demolished in the 1920s.

Mike Berrell (<mike_berrell@ntlworld.com>) points out that "Whalley Bridge" should be "Whalley Range", which is now part of Greater Manchester. This can be ascertained from the 1861 / 1871 / 1881 and 1891 Census data.
John William Lodge's birth was registered in the Sept Quarter 1855 in Chorlton, Lancashire, in the sub-district of Hulme.

-----------------> Return to top of the pag