The Three Poppies...Dodd's in World War I

In 2015, to commemorate the dead from World War I,  ceramic poppies were placed around the Tower of London. Each poppy represented one dead Englishman from the war. Click here to see pictures. Three of those poppies were for members of the McKee family.

Poppy 

Henry "Harry" Dodd (s/o Frederick William Dodd + Esther Middleton)
DOB: 21 Dec 1896 Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire, England
DOD: 13 Aug 1917 France

http://www.stockport1914-1918.co.uk/d.php

Henry Dodd M.M.
Lance Corporal, 49482. 11 th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. Killed in action 13 August 1917, aged 20. Born: Ashton under Lyne. Enlisted: Stockport. Son of Frederick & Esther, 173 Curzon Road, Ashton under Lyne.  

Commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium. 

Award of the Military Medal published in the London Gazette, 14 August 1917. Announcements are normally made approximately three months after the particular act for which the medal is given.

Click here to see  memorial on monument at Hurst Cemetery.

Poppy 

Albert Dodd (s/o Albert Dodd + Mary Jane Hibbert Taylor)
DOB: 28 Dec 1892 Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire, England
DOD: 22 Aug 1916 France
Albert's rank was Gunner and he is buried in Peronne Cemetery, Maricourt, Somme, France. Click here for more information.

Click here to see  memorial on monument at Hurst Cemetery.

Poppy

John William Dodd (s/o Albert Dodd + Mary Jane Hibbert Taylor)
DOB: Dec Q 1895 Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire, England
DOD: 22 Oct 1918 Germany
John's rank was Private and he died as a POW. His service number is 48500. John is buried in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Click here for more information on John's service.

Albert and John wrote letter home and portions of their letters were published in a local newspaper.

http://ashtonpals.webs.com/1915page14.htm

(1915 Pg 14) 

Published in the Reporter 25 Sep 1915
TWO ASHTON BROTHERS
Corporal J. W. Dodd, who is attached to the machine gun section of the 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dodd, of 153, Burlington street, Ashton, and who, as announced in the Reporter last week, was wounded in the leg while fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula on August 7th, is making good progress. He is now in hospital at Plymouth, and writes on September 13th as follows: - "I have arrived in England. We are nice and comfortable, and have plenty of good food. I am able to walk a little today. I am going to have a piece of skin put on my leg, as the wound is to big to heal itself." The wound has not touched the bone, the bullet being buried in the flesh, according to a previous letter sent by Corporal DODD. A brother, Gunner ALBERT DODD, is serving with the Royal Field Artillery in France, where he has been engaged on active service for about ten weeks. In a letter to his parents he says: - "We are having it a bit quiet just now. I am writing this letter at one of our observation posts. I get 24 hours every eight days on the telephone. I have just been watching some of our shells bursting right in the German trenches. It is worth seeing. the other day we blew up one of their trench mortars and the men who were working it. We also dug one of their shells up that had not burst. It was about 9ft in solid hard clay." The observations post referred to by Gunner Dodd is a captive balloon, from which the effects of the British shellfire is seen, and the results telephoned to the battery below.

Try Going Local

An article in the online free eZine GenealogyInTime suggested that if you are looking for information outside of the United States that you use the localized Google search engine for the country in question. I have only two international locations that I need to search in: England and Ireland. I decided to check out what different results I'd get if I used Google.co.uk. Here's what I found.

Discovered Marriages
Ernest Dodd married Clara May Webb 18 Aug 1917
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stpeter/marriages_1915-1917.html
Marriage: 18 Aug 1917 St Peter, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.
Ernest Dodd - 27, 2nd. Kings Own R. Lancaster, Bachelor, 79 Mount Street
Clara Webb - 26, Cardroom Hand, Spinster, 7 Hawthorne Grove
    Groom's Father: Frederick Dodd, Labourer (wife Ester Middleton)
    Bride's Father: George Webb, Gas Stoker
    Witness: Henry Ibbotson; Sarah Ann Ibbotson
    Married by Banns by: T. W. Pughe Morgan, Vicar
    Register: Marriages 1915 - 1917, Page 100, Entry 200
    Source: LDS Family Search

Sarah Ann Dodd married Henry Ralph "Harry" Ibbotson 4 Apr 1915
Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Henry Ibbotson
Marriage Date: 21 Mar 1915
Parish: Ashton under Lyne, St James the Apostle
Parish as it Appears: St James Church Ashton-Under-Lyne
Spouse's Name: Sarah Ann Dodd
Reference Number: L163/1/5/3
Item Number: 6
Archive Roll: 847

Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Henry Ibbotson
Birth Year: abt 1886
Age: 29
Marriage Date: 4 Apr 1915
Parish: Ashton under Lyne, St James the Apostle
Parish as it Appears: St James, Ashton-Under-Lyne
Father's Name: Thomas Ibbotson
Spouse's Name: Sarah Ann Dodd
Spouse's Father's Name: Frederick Dodd (wife Esther Middleton)
Reference Number: L163/1/2/3
Item Number: 1
Archive Roll: 847

Alfred Dodd married Florence Elizabeth Jones 30 Oct 1922
Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Alfred Dodd
Birth Year: abt 1901
Age: 21
Marriage Date: 30 Oct 1922
Parish: Ashton Under Lyne, St Peter
Parish as it Appears: St Peter Ashton Under Lyne
Father's Name: Albert Dodd
Spouse's Name: Florence Jones
Spouse's Father's Name: John Jones
Reference Number: L74/1/2/10
Item Number: 2
Archive Roll: 519

In addition, I found two christening records to two daughters Cecila and Florence. However, if you look on Ancestry.com, you find that the two daughters might be one daughter named Florence Elizabeth Cecilia Dodd. Therefore, children for this couple remains a fuzzy area. 

Discovered World War I Correspondence

Albert Dodd and John William Dodd

http://ashtonpals.m.webs.com/   (1915 Pg 14)

Published in the Reporter 25 Sep 1919

TWO ASHTON BROTHERS

Corporal J. W. Dodd, who is attached to the machine gun section of the 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dodd, of 153, Burlington street, Ashton, and who, as announced in the Reporter last week, was wounded in the leg while fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula on August 7th, is making good progress. He is now in hospital at Plymouth, and writes on September 13th as follows: - "I have arrived in England. We are nice and comfortable, and have plenty of good food. I am able to walk a little today. I am going to have a piece of skin put on my leg, as the wound is to big to heal itself." The wound has not touched the bone, the bullet being buried in the flesh, according to a previous letter sent by Corporal DODD. A brother, Gunner ALBERT DODD, is serving with the Royal Field Artillery in France, where he has been engaged on active service for about ten weeks. In a letter to his parents he says: - "We are having it a bit quiet just now. I am writing this letter at one of our observation posts. I get 24 hours every eight days on the telephone. I have just been watching some of our shells bursting right in the German trenches. It is worth seeing. the other day we blew up one of their trench mortars and the men who were working it. We also dug one of their shells up that had not burst. It was about 9ft in solid hard clay." The observations post referred to by Gunner Dodd is a captive balloon, from which the effects of the British shellfire is seen, and the results telephoned to the battery below.

Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert

John William Dodd death record:

http://tamesidefamilyhistory.co.uk/pow.htm

Dodd J Private Manchester Regiment 

153 Burlington Street, Ashton under Lyne (dead)

Action Ashton 11 Jan 1919

Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert

This record may indicate that I have an error in that I have John marrying Sylvia Storer in Q4 1935 and having a child (Shirley Dodd). The name Dodd is common in the area and it might well be that I have records two different John William Dodd men crossed. Any help sorting this out would be appreciated. 

Discovered Deaths or Burial Locations

Nellie Dodd

http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stmichael/index.html

Burial: 26 Dec 1901 St Michael and All Angels, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.

Nellie Dodd - 

    Age: 22 mths

    Abode: 153 Burlington Street

    Buried by: C. H. Bagott

    Register: Burials 1892 - 1908, Page 226, Entry 1806

    Source: LDS Film 1550973

    Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert

Alfred Dodd and Florence Elizabeth Jones

http://www.stg.org.uk/content/pages/documents/1376749516.pdf

R36 G8 

ALFRED DODD 30/12/1948 (Parents: Joseph Dodd and Agnes Anderson)

FLORENCE DODD 17/01/1979

(Low headstone in book format) In loving memory of (left side) 

A dear husband and father ALFRED DODD who died 26th Dec. 1949 aged 47 years (right side) A dear wife and mother FLORENCE DODD who died 11th Jan. 1979 aged 76 years

Ada Hannah Smith 

http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stmichael/index.html 

Burial: 21 Oct 1899 St Michael and All Angels, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.

Ada Hannah Smith - (Parents: William Smith and Agnes Eleanore Anderson)

    Age: 11 mths

    Abode: Fleet St

    Buried by: George A. Pugh Rector

    Register: Burials 1892 - 1908, Page 193, Entry 1543

    Source: LDS Film 1550973

Conclusion

My voyage into the use of another Google search engine has answered a lot of outstanding questions and uncovered a possible problem with John William Dodd. I'm going to continue searching for additional information to see if there's anything else I've missed. As an exercise, this one has been rather profitable for my research project. So, if you are googling in other countries, you might want to try going local and see if you get results that you've missed using the American version of Google.

Henry "Harry" Dodd

I haven't been posting of late. I've been too busy trying to hold my life together...too much to go into and more info than you might want to hear. Anyway, I've started pecking away again at my family history. No guarantees on how consistent I might be over the next few months. But I came across something that any Dodd/Anderson researchers on this list will be interested in.

Henry "Harry" Dodd
s/o Frederick William Dodd + Esther Middleton
grandson of Joseph Dodd + Agnes Anderson
b. 21 Dec 1896 Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire, England
d. 13 Aug 1917 France & Flanders World War I

Click here to see entry in list of honor.
Henry Dodd M.M.
Lance Corporal, 49482. 11 th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. Killed in action 13 August 1917, aged 20. Born: Ashton under Lyne. Enlisted: Stockport. Son of Frederick & Esther, 173 Curzon Road, Ashton under Lyne. Commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium.
Award of the Military Medal published in the London Gazette, 14 August 1917. Announcements are normally made approximately three months after the particular act for which the medal is given.

Click here to get a copy of a certificate...a lovely certificate with pictures of the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium. The site includes a picture of the inside walls...filled with so many names. A soldier's name was added to the wall when his resting place was unknown. It's worth a look.

A cousin had told me about the fact that Henry appeared on the gate. I was googling when I found these two entries, which provide more detail than the cousin had told me. Lesson learned? Google it every single time!

Agnes Anderson + Joseph Dodd in England

The family of Agnes (Anderson) Dodd is one of the English families that I'm chasing. Here's a run down of the family.

Jospeph Dodd
Joseph Dodd (b. 1835 Wallasey, Cheshire d. Mar 1900 Ashton Under Lyne, Cheshire)
m. 16 Mar 1857 Saint Stephen's Church, Audenshaw, Lancashire to
Agnes Anderson (b. 1834 Ireland d. 1886 Woodchurch Hospital, Cheshire)

Joseph and Agnes had the following children:
Sarah Jane Dodd b. 1859 (I have no additional information)
Fredrick Dodd b. 12 Feb 1861
William Edward Dodd b. 24 May 1863 (I have no additional information)
Albert Dodd b. 18 Apr 1866
Louisa Dodd b. 21 Nov 1869
Robert Dodd b. 3 Dec 1871
George Duncan Dodd b. 17 Nov 1873 (See Find A Grave memorial 68439906)
Agnes Dodd b. 23 Mar 1876

Fredrick Dodd
m. 17 Oct 1886 St. Michael's, Ashton Under Lyne Lancashire
Esther Middleton b. 1862 Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire

Fredrick and Esther had the following children:
John William Dodd b. 13 Nov 1887
Ernest Dodd b. 13 Feb 1890
Sarah Ann Dodd b. 14 May 1893
Henry Dodd b. 21 Dec 1896

Albert Dodd
m. have no info
Mary Jane (Unknkown)

Albert and Mary Jane had the following children:
Sarah Jane Dodd b. 1891
Albert Dodd b. 1893
John William Dodd b. 1895
Alice Dodd b. 1898
Nellie Dodd b. 1900

Louisa Dodd
m 29 May 1897 St. Michael's, Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire
John Owen b. 1864

Louisa and John had the following children:
Robert Andrew Owen b. 26 Jun 1899
Jack Owen b. 21 Dec 1904

Robert Dodd
m. between 1891 and 1895
Alice Gillell

Agnes Dodd
m 26 Mar 1895 St. John, Dukinfield, Cheshire
Arthur Fletcher b. 1875 Hyde, Cheshire

Agnes and Arthur had the following children:
Percy Vincent Fletcher b. 25 Jan 1896
Mary Louisa Fletcher b. 11 Jul 1897
Hepzibah Fletcher b. 10 Oct 1899
Jack Fletcher b. Mar 1903

I have some additional information on marriages for the grandchildren. If you are chasing info for this Dodd family, please contact me. I'm happy to trade info with other researchers.