George Hodnett

Clongowes 1903-1907 I George Hodnett

George Hodnett (1890-1982), colonel and military lawyer, was a native of Youghal, County Cork, who attended Clongowes in 190307. He attended UCD, before serving in France and Italy with the Royal Army Medical Corps in World War I, reaching the rank of major. He qualified as a solicitor in 1920 and was called to the bar in 1923. Prior to that he had taken the Free State side in the civil war and persuaded Michael Collins to establish an army legal service, which he joined as second-in-command to Cahir Davitt, the judge advocate general. Together, they drafted a manual of military law for the new force. As Davitt retained civilian status, Hodnett, with the rank of colonel, was responsible for the direction of the legal staff and for the administration of law generally in the army. From 1924 until his retirement in 1955 he was deputy judge advocate general. His work contributed greatly to the to the establishment of the Irish military legal system and practice. In 1949 he was a member of the Irish delegation to the United Nations Geneva Convention conference, which updated the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of war. He was a proficient and enthusiastic tennis player, cricketer and fisherman.