Henry and Ellen Hosegood were a farming family from Somerset, who moved to Bristol, where they became prominent members at Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Church. Henry became a Circuit Steward, and other members of the family served as local preachers and Sunday School teachers. Henry became a leading member of the Bristol Corn Exchange.
Their three eldest sons were killed in the trenches during the First World War.
Arnold Hosegood was educated at Redland High School and The Leys School and followng in hisfather's footsteps became the youngest member of the Bristol Corn Exchange. He taught a Sunday School class at Trinity and was secretary of the Wesley Guild. The oldest of the brothers, he was keen on sport, especially rowing, and field sports. He was quick to enlist as a 2nd Lieutenant at the outbreak of war and was killed by a sniper's bullet on 22 February 1915. His brother Ralph Hosegood died from a stray bullet while serving on the Somme on 23 July 1916, aged 23. The third brother Gilbert Hosegood was educated at Queen's College, Taunton and Westhill College, Selly Oak. Coming under Quaker influence, he had plans to become a doctor and joined the Friends Ambulance Unit in January 1915. Witnessing the effect of chlorine in battle, he enlisted in the Devons and died at the age of 20 in the Battle of the Somme.
Their story was told in a booklet, Three Brothers (1919), by A.W. Harrison, who had known the family while a minister in Bristol and the sons while serving as an army chaplain in France.