Jeremy B. Hodgson (1951-54) died on 14th January 2025 as the Society was informed by his longtime friend Anthony Fenwick-Wilson (1953-57). He was 87 and had been in poor health for some time.

The son of an OP and leading light in the OP Society in its early years, G.W. Hodgson (1918-19), “Jeremy was a man of many parts” in the words of Fenwick-Wilson. “At Pangbourne, he was not very academic, having undiagnosed dyslexia, but was active in school life and a very proud member of Macquarie Division.” He rose to become a Cadet Captain, the Captain of Boxing 1953 and 1954, a front row member of the rugby 1st XVs of 1953 and 1954, when he was described as “a great player…rugged and fast” by the Master-in-Charge Don Holland.  He was also a member of the Swimming team in 1953 and 1954.

From the NCP he did his National Service in the Royal Marines. Flown to Cyprus at the end of 1955 as a member of 45 Commando, he spent six months on active service there fighting EOKA terrorists seeking union of the island with Greece. On one occasion he captured a Greek flag while on an anti-EOKA operation. Years later, he returned it to the village from which it had been taken and the mayor threw a party in his honour.

In the summer of 1956, Jeremy passed a War Office Selection Board in his pursuit of a permanent commission. To his chagrin, he was granted one but posted into the Army and the East Surrey Regiment rather than the Marines. After six months on boring occupation duties in West Germany, he resigned and headed for North America. Beginning with a humble job in a meat packing company in Toronto, he eventually hitch-hiked south to Miami and then flew to Nassau in the Bahamas where he became Assistant Manager of one of the island’s leading hotels.

By 1959 he had returned to the U.K. where he began a long-term career in sales and marketing, first with a margarine subsidiary of Unilever and later in the 1960s with Marley Tiles. This was followed by a varied career in sales in France, Belgium and Germany as well as in the UK. During the winter of 1966, he also began the first of three stints on the OP Society committee which lasted, on and off, for the next 27 years.

“All his life Jeremy was quite a sportsman,” recalls Fenwick-Wilson. His favourite sport was boxing but in civilian life he carried on with rugby, cricket and motor racing into middle age and did not stop competitive rowing until he was in his seventies. Aged 67 he ran in the London marathon and, five years later, competed in a sprint triathlon for Alzheimer’s research. Also in his seventies, he raised funds for charity by completing a trek through the Pyrenees mountains in honour of his great aunt using the same route she had taken during the Second World War when smuggling Allied servicemen out of France and into Spain.

Jeremy was married twice and was the father of four children. In 2012 he met Mary Moore, the widow of a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm officer. The couple led, says Fenwick-Wilson, “an idyllic life together in rural Sussex.” His funeral will take place at 2:00pm on Thursday 20th February at St. Mary’s Church, Church Lane, Salehurst, Robertsbridge TN32 5PJ.