801 MT COY ASC
Corporals
Corporal William Hodgson
William Hodgson was born in Preston in 1892. In 1911 he was working as a tram conductor for Preston council, when the war broke out he got a job in a munitions factory. He attested under the Derby scheme in December 1915 but due to his age and occupation he was not called up until June 1916. He trained initially with the Loyal North Lancs before being posted to the 9th East Lancs arriving in Salonika with a draft of 60 men in November 1916. In april 1917, just before the first battle of Doiran, he was transferred to the Army Service Corps due to his trade given as Electrician. He was posted to the 801st MT Company ASC May 1917 and remained with them until he was demobilised in the spring of 1919. After the war he worked for a Motorcycle company that went bankrupt, then after a period of unemployment got a job with the Co-Operative Society in Preston eventually becoming transport manager, he died in 1988 age 96.
Corporal Cain
There are 59 Medal Index cards for Army Service Corps soldiers with the surname Cain; of these, 22 have Mechanical Transport prefixes, and 9 have service records that show they did not serve in the Balkans. Only 1 of the remainder, Robert Cain M/183468, had the rank of corporal. Robert Cain’s Medal Index Card shows he was not entitled to a 1915 Star and his number indicates that he probably enlisted in December 1915 under the Derby scheme and was called up in June 1916. He may have been with the 801st from the start or transferred from another ASC unit, at any rate according to the war diary, he was in charge of Lorry 3646 in October 1918. He was with the company when it supported the advance into Bulgaria and probably remained with them until demobilisation in February or March 1919.
Corporal Ward
Corporal Ward is mentioned once in the war diary when the company are at Petric in the Struma valley October 1918. Corporal Ward was sent to 26th Division HQ to report on the state of the Divisional cars. There are 21 medal index cards for Corporal Ward with MT number prefixes unfortunately none of them have surviving service records.