When my great-grandfather, Jack Hodge enlisted to serve in World War One in late January 1917, he was barely eighteen, despite his attestation papers recording him as 21 years of age. He later told his daughter he had been issued with razors for shaving but didn’t have the need for them yet.

Within five months of enlistment, in June 1917, Jack was in the Middle East, serving with the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, and part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign.

He saw service at the time of one of the Light Horse’s most significant battles, the fall of Beersheba. Though not with the 4^th or 12^th regiments that made the charge, his regiment was part of a flanking movement around Beersheba. As the youngest it was his job to take the horses back, so he was never actually on the front line of the battles.

They worked in squads of four, and the youngest was given the job of taking the four horses back behind the line, being responsible for them while the other three men fought. Light Horse soldiers were mounted infantry, not cavalry. Horses enabled the soldiers to be fast and mobile, but they were rarely used in charges, the Battle of Beersheba and the Battle of Magdhaba being exceptions.

More than 130,000 horses joined the men at war, but quarantine restrictions meant they were not allowed to return to Australia at the end of the war and were mostly sold. Just one horse, whose name was Sandy, returned home after serving three months of quarantine in England.

Following the official conclusion of the War, the Light Horse remained in the Middle East for some time. New Year’s Day celebrations in 1919 included a race meeting in Cairo. Of the many horses in the Australian Imperial Force, several from the 6th Light Horse regiment were chosen to compete.

Jack Hodge was one of the jockeys in the first race, riding Cobar in the Cairo Stakes. It is likely that at five feet and five inches tall, and weighing less than sixty kilograms, his small, light stature made him ideal for the job. The race was described as “a ding dong go to the winning post” between Mazar and Cobar, who were well ahead of the next horse, with Jack coming home on Cobar in second place.

A photograph of Jack riding Dipso, another horse who raced the same day, is preserved in the collections of the Australian War Memorial. He’s recognisable to his family in the photo, which can also be found printed in Under Furred Hats, a history of the 6th Light Horse regiment, published within months of their return to Australia in 1919.

Selected references

Australian War Memorial, ‘Attack on Beersheba’, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84287, accessed 23 March 2021.

Australian War Memorial, ‘Horses used in the First World War (Walers)’,
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/horses, accessed 11 March 2021.

Australian War Memorial, ‘Sandy (Major General Sir William Bridges’ horse)’, https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/horses/sandy, accessed 11 March 2021.

Service record of Jack Arnold Hodge, First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, National Archives of Australia, B2455.

‘Racing in Egypt’, Australasian, 1 March 1919, p. 15, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140219616.

Berrie, G. L., Under Furred Hats, W. C. Penfold & Co. Ltd., Sydney, 1919, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-487222004, accessed 20 January 2025.

Photograph of the Gelding thoroughbred ‘Dipso’ and his jockey, thought to be 3243 Jack Arnold Hodge, June 1919, original held by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, B01382, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/B01382, accessed 11 March 2021, image in the public domain.

Porter, Barney, ‘Beersheba: The day the Light Horse galloped into military history’,
The World Today, ABC Radio, 31 October 2017, https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/beersheba:-100-years-ago-today/9103522.