Editing William Hope Hodgson (section)

===Early years and life at sea===
Hodgson was born in the hamlet of Blackmore End near [[Braintree, Essex|Braintree]] in Essex, the son of the Reverend Samuel Hodgson, an [[Anglican]] priest, and Lissie Sarah Brown. He was the second of 12 children, three of whom died in infancy.<ref name="dfs" /> The death of a child is a theme in several of Hodgson's works including the short stories [[List of stories by William Hope Hodgson#"The Valley of Lost Children"|"The Valley of Lost Children"]], [[List of stories by William Hope Hodgson#"The Sea-Horses"|"The Sea-Horses"]], and [[Carnacki#"The Searcher of the End House"|"The Searcher of the End House"]].

Hodgson's father was moved frequently and served 11 different parishes in 21 years, including one in [[Ardrahan]], [[County Galway]], Ireland.<ref name="dfs" /> This setting was later featured in Hodgson's novel ''[[The House on the Borderland]]''.<ref name="dfs" />

Hodgson ran away from his boarding school at age 13, in an effort to become a sailor. He was caught and returned to his family, but eventually received his father's permission to be apprenticed as a [[cabin boy]] and began a four-year apprenticeship in 1891.<ref name="dfs" /> Hodgson's father died shortly thereafter, of throat cancer, leaving the family impoverished; while William was away, the family subsisted largely on charity. After his apprenticeship ended in 1895, Hodgson began two years of study in [[Liverpool]] and was then able to pass the tests and receive his mate's certificate; he then began several more years as a sailor.

At sea, Hodgson experienced bullying. This led him to begin a programme of personal training.<ref name="daa">[[Douglas A. Anderson|Anderson, Douglas A.]] "Introduction", in ''Adrift on the haunted seas : the best short stories of William Hope Hodgson''.
Cold Springs Harbor, NY : Cold Spring Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-59360-049-5}} (pp. 7-11)</ref> According to [[Sam Moskowitz]],<ref name="Moskowitz_Storm">{{cite news|author=Moskowitz, Sam|title=William Hope Hodgson|work=Out of the Storm|location= West Kingston, RI|publisher= Donald M. Grant|date= 1975}}</ref>

<blockquote>The primary motivation of his body development was not health, but self-defence. His relatively short height and sensitive, almost beautiful face made him an irresistible target for bullying seamen. When they moved in to pulverize him, they would learn too late that they had come to grips with easily one of the most powerful men, pound for pound, in all England.</blockquote>

The theme of bullying of an apprentice by older seamen, and revenge taken, appeared frequently in his sea stories.

While away at sea, in addition to his exercises with weights and with a punching bag, Hodgson also practised his photography, taking photographs of [[aurora borealis]], cyclones, lightning, sharks, and the maggots that infested the food given to sailors. He also built up a stamp collection, practised his marksmanship while hunting, and kept journals of his experiences at sea.<ref name="dfs" /> In November 1898, he was awarded the [[Royal Humane Society]] medal for heroism for saving another sailor who, in March of the same year, had fallen from the topmast into the sea in shark-infested waters off the coast of New Zealand.<ref name="dfs" />