Arnold Hodson

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Sir Arnold Hodson Alan Burns
Personal details
Born	12 February 1881
Died	26 May 1944 (1944-05-27) (aged 63)

Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson

.

Background

Hodson was born in Bovey Tracey, Devonshire, in 1881, the eldest son of Algernon Hodson and Sarah Wienholt. He was educated at Felsted. Hodson was in Central Queensland 1900 to 1902 and was part of the Queensland Contingent for South Africa in 1902. He served in the Transvaal from 1902 to 1904. From 1904 until 1912 he was in the

.

One of his journeys, in 1906, was made in the company of Sir Ralph Williams, Resident Commissioner, and was from Serowe to Livingstone and the Victoria Falls via Lake Ngami. Four years later Hodson organised a hunting trip for British High Commissioner Selborne, from Pandamatenga to Selous' old camp on the Mabebe Flats and on to the Chobe. Hodson then went on to Somaliland (1912–14). He served as Consul in Southern Abbysinia from 1914 to 1923, then as Consul in South West Abbysinia from 1923 to 1926.

Colonial governor

Hodson was Governor of the Falkland Islands (1926–30). During his tenure, a mountain - Mount Hodson (56°42'S, 27°13'W), the summit of Visokoi Island in the South Sandwich Islands - was named after him.

The most notable achievement of Hodson's reign as governor of the Falkland Islands was the development of radio communications within and beyond the islands.^[2] Working with the BBC, he connected the islands to the imperial broadcasting network. He also established a radio station in the islands. When he later moved to Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, he continued work on his visions of establishing effective communication lines between various parts of the British Empire.

From 1930 to 1934 he was Governor of

, which launched on 7 May 1934. He encouraged African participation in government and had Sierra Leone "natives" trained to do jobs that had previously been reserved for bureaucrats who were imported into the colony from Britain. That same year he was knighted. Finally, he was Governor of the

Hodson married Elizabeth Charlotte Sarah Hay, daughter of Major Malcolm Vivian Hay, in 1928. They had two daughters, Rosemary and Elizabeth. He died on 26 May 1944[4] in New York City, aged 63.^[1]

Selected bibliography

Arnold Hodson was the author of a number of books, including:

• Trekking the Great Thirst: Travel and Sport in the Kalahari Desert. London: T.F. Unwin, 1912.
• An Elementary and Practical Grammar of the Galla or Oromo Language. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1922.
• Seven Years in Southern Abyssinia. [London]: T.F. Unwin, 1927.
• Where Lion Reign: an account of lion hunting and exploration in South West Abyssinia. London: Skeffington and Son Ltd, 1929.

Hodson also wrote a play called The Downfall of Zachariah Fee, or "The Troubles of Santa Claus".^[5]

References

External links

• Works by or about Arnold Hodson at Internet Archive