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Len Hodges

English footballer (1920-1959)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ6521820
Source-derived summary

Leonard Herbert Hodges (17 February 1920 – 5 August 1959) was a professional footballer who played in The Football League for Bristol Rovers, Swansea Town (now known as Swansea City), and Reading between 1946 and 1953.

Hodges's entry into professional football was delayed by the Second World War, eventually joining his first professional club and his home town team Bristol Rovers in 1946 when he was aged 26. He scored five goals in each of his four seasons with The Pirates in 118 League games, and later played twice for Swansea Town and six times for Reading, where he was captain of their reserve team. He ended his career with non-League side Chippenham Town, retiring in 1954. He died just five years later, in 1959, at the age of 39 after developing meningitis.

Sources

Jay, Mike; Byrne, Stephen (1994). Pirates in Profile: A Who's Who of Bristol Rovers Players. Bristol: Potten, Baber & Murray. p. 122.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Len Hodges” as english footballer (1920-1959). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1920, 1959, 1946, 1953—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1920-02-17. The account is most persuasive where Hodges, English and footballer can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as english footballer (1920-1959). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6521820. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920, 1959, 1946 and 1953.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Len Hodges”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Len Hodges primary sources, Len Hodges archive and Hodges research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Len Hodges”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Len Hodges” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.