Page 41 - Chiron Calling Autumn/Winter 2022

Captain Hodgkins also received The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1916 as part of the King’s Birthday Honours List. This Order was instituted on 9th November 1886 by Queen Victoria to reward individuals for meritorious or distinguished service in wartime. This is a military Order for officers only for services under fire or conditions equivalent to service
in actual combat with the enemy. However, between 1914 and 1916, it was awarded under circumstances that could not be regarded as under fire. In this period, it was also awarded in recognition of a period of sustained service rather than for a single act for veterinary surgeons.
Acting Lieutenant Colonel Hodgkins also had to prepare for a Royal Visit to Number 3 Veterinary Hospital on 27th November 1918, soon after the Armistice. The King and the Royal party spent forty-five minutes at Number 3 Hospital. The first part of the visit was to inspect the honour guard of the men. The King saw how operating theatres were set up, examined specimens of horses’ feet and watched horses with mange put through a plunge bath.
It is interesting to note that on the day of the visit to Number 3, King George V conferred the prefix, Royal, to the Corps in recognition of the work of the AVC during the war.
In a letter of congratulations, the Quartermaster General wrote,
‘The Corps, by its initiative and scientific methods has placed military veterinary organisation on
a higher plane. The high standard which it has maintained at home and throughout all theatres has resulted in a reduction of animal wastage, increased mobility of mounted units and a mitigation of animal suffering un-approached in any previous military operation.’
While no evidence has been found to the contrary, it is hard to imagine that the King did not mention his intention of conferring the title of “Royal” on the AVC during his visit to Number 3 Hospital.
In October 1919, Captain Hodgkins commenced his second tour of duty to India. He served at Secunderabad and then was appointed to Bannu.
Bannu is in the Kyber region of modern-day Pakistan. On 26th August 1920, Captain Hodgkins was promoted to Major.
Major Hodgkins was awarded
The India General Service Medal
for his second posting in India. This medal was awarded for several minor campaigns and operations in India before and after the First World War. The Medal was not issued without
a bar. The bar represented each campaign on the ribbon.
Major Hodgkins’ medal had attached to the Waziristan Clasp 1921-1924, awarded for service in establishing the Razmak and Wana Cantonments and undertaking extensive road-building projects throughout Waziristan between 21st December 1921 and 31st March 1924. These operations were part of the new Forward Policy, which sought
to reduce and eventually eliminate tribal uprisings and tribal raiding into the settled districts by stationing regular troops inside Waziristan, allowing for an immediate response to any fledgling rebellion.
In these areas, the infantryman and pack-mule reigned supreme in warfare. Both the Mule Corps and the Camel Corps were involved in this campaign. So, Major Hodgkins’ role in this area was the veterinary care of these animals.
Returning from India, John was to spend the next part of his career at Tidworth Army Base in Wiltshire, commanding the veterinary hospital on the base. In 1930 Major Hodgkins was again posted to India.
He arrived in India in time to witness the Salt March. On 12th March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi embarked a historic Salt March
from Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad to the village of Dandi in the state’s coastal area to protest the tax levied on salt. The distance from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi was 240 miles. The volunteers walked for 24 days, 10 miles a day. Thousands of people came to hear Gandhi. On 6th April, he reached Dandi, violated the Salt Law, and manufactured salt by boiling seawater.
No arrests were made that day. Gandhi continued his satyagraha against the salt tax for the next two
months, exhorting other Indians to break the salt laws by committing civil disobedience. Thousands were arrested and imprisoned, including Jawaharlal Nehru in April and Gandhi himself in early May after informing Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India, of his intention to march on the nearby Dharasana saltworks. News of Gandhi’s detention spurred tens of thousands more to join
the satyagraha. The march on the saltworks went ahead as planned on 21st May, led by the poet Sarojini Naidu, and many of the 2,500 peaceful marchers were attacked and beaten by police. By the end of the year, some 60,000 people were in jail.
While in India, Major John Hodgkins undertook various roles, including Deputy Assistant Director of Veterinary Services, eventually becoming the Assistant Director of Veterinary Services. He finished his time in India as the Commandant of the Army Veterinary School. While in India, John was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 28th November 1932.
Lieutenant Colonel Hodgkins’
time in India ended in 1934 when
he received the posting as the Commandant of the Royal Army Veterinary School and School of Farriery in Aldershot; the former
post was meant to last for seven months. During that time, rumours abounded regarding the closure of the facility. The decision to close, which finally occurred in 1938, was due to the increasing mechanisation of the army’s cavalry, artillery, and transport sections. The increase in mechanisation also coincided with reducing the number of men in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. By 1939 there were only 85 officers left serving in the RAVC (59 of these were stationed in India) and 105 soldiers.
Despite the increasing mechanisation, horses and mules were still needed in the roughest terrains where vehicles could not cope. Thus, a cavalry brigade was stationed in Egypt; this brigade had been stationed there since the end of the War. This decision followed the successful deployment of cavalry during the campaign in Palestine against the Turks.
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