Hodge came from the Gorbals district of Glasgow, son of a fishmonger. He valued his education and became a supporter of both Fenner Brockway and John MacLean, formative figures in the socialist and anti-war movement in Britain. Aged 20, by 1914 Hodge was already committed politically, and although not a total pacifist, regarded the war as a contest between imperialist nations over territory and power. As a CO he was imprisoned in Perth (1 year hard Labour), Edinburgh and Wakefield, spending his last period of confinement working on the plantation of trees around Loch Awe in Scotland – an enduring memorial to CO endeavours.