Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Colin Ferguson Hood’s parents, Robert Whitelaw Hood and Agnes Armour Hood, migrated to Australia in the 1880s. They had 12 children (three dying in infancy or childhood). Alexander was their first child, born in Scotland in 1873. Colin was their ninth child, born at Joadji Creek, NSW, in 1892. In 1915, the family were living at 91 Alice Street, Auburn. Both Colin and Alexander died in the Great War. They are one of seven pairs of brothers listed on the Auburn War Memorial.
Having attended Auburn Public School and completed seven years as an apprentice at Richie Bros. Auburn, Colin, 24, was a qualified carriage builder. He enlisted at Holsworthy in September 1915 and in February 1916 he was allocated to the 2nd Battalion at the Tel-el-Kebir camp in Egypt. The battalion moved on to France in the following month. Colin was ‘killed by concussion’ and ‘hit by a shell’ on 24 July 1916, the first day of the Australian attack at Pozières.
In 1920, his parents submitted the following for their son’s grave, hoping that one would eventually be found:
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE MY DARLING LIES
SOMEWHERE BENEATH THE SOD
BUT HIS SOUL SO BRAVE
IS BEYOND THE GRAVE
SOMEWHERE, SOMEWHERE WITH GOD
In 1921, five years after Colin's disappearance, Mrs Hood received the following letter from Base Records:
"Dear Madam
I regret very much that, notwithstanding the efforts of our Graves Services Unit, we have so far been unable to obtain any trace of the last resting place of your son, the late No. 4210, Private CF Hood, 2nd Battalion and, so that no possible source of information shall be overlooked, I shall be much obliged if you will let me have on loan any letters or communications that contain any reference to the circumstances surrounding his death, particularly the exact locality at which it occurred, or where he was last seen alive. Of course any information you may have received as to his burial would be of the greatest assistance. The reason these steps are being taken is to identify, if at all possible, those bodies that are being recovered but which have nothing on them to definitely establish identification, and thus obviate the necessity of interring them in the new Military Cemeteries under the heading “An Unknown Australian Soldier”."
Colin's grave was not found, so his name was inscribed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux when that monument was unveiled in 1938.
Colin F Hood is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Auburn Public School First World War Honour Roll
- Auburn Boys Public School Great War Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal
- 1914-20 Victory Medal
