Hodgson, William

GODWIN DIARY: Hudson 28.9.1793 (This entry is currently coded in the Godwin Diary website to John Corrie Hudson - although the editorial notes say it isn't) / Hodgson 16.7.1794 at Newgate / 30.3.1796 Hodgson calls / 28.4.1796 meet Hodgson

William Hodgson DNB 1745-1851 who was in Newgate on the state side in 1794 and 1795. When first tried and imprisoned for uttering seditious and inflammatory words he was recorded in newspapers and official records as Hudson and the criminal register gave his age as 30 in 1794 which contradicts by 19 years the birth date in DNB (which seems based only on his age of 106 given at death in Gents Mag 1851- also on his death certificate, see comments below). A copy of his compilation 'The Fabulator' in the Bodleian Library was inscribed by him in 1833 to his godson William G. Hodgson of Eglesfield Abbey, (Carlisle), corroborating the statement in Gents Mag that he came from an ancient border family, and his age in Newgate would fit with the apprenticeship for 3 years in 1777 of a William Hodgson to John Hodgson, apothecary and surgeon of Carlisle. Orlando Hodgson 1801-1860, bookseller and publisher, who published William Hodgson's 1841 Life of Bonaparte, was admitted to the Haberdashers' Company in 1853 as a son of William Hodgson deceased (who had been admitted in 1776, after being bound in 1769 to Nicholas Ridgway haberdasher as son of William Hodgson of St Botolph Bishopsgate cooper; who was likely the William Hodgson cooper of Wellclose Square whose will dated 1769 and proved 1773 mentioned his mother Elizabeth of Whitehaven). Orlando may have been a son or a relative of William Hodgson DNB d.1851. Courier 15.1.1799 subs to state prisoners Wm Hodgson apothecary Broad Ct, Long Acre. All this is further complicated by the existence of the chemist and surgeon Luke Hodgson 1765-1814 of West Smithfield who joined the Socy for Const Info in April 1794 and in November 1795 chaired a petition meeting of over 2000 people in Farringdon Without ward against the Assembly bill. In 1799 he was a governor of Bridewell and Bethlem hospitals and won damages of one shilling against the printer of the Sun for saying he had washed his flute after patriotic tunes had been played on it (the Sun may have confused him with William Hodgson DNB, as also may the Times of 13.10.1796 which mentioned ironically 'the celebrated Dr Hodgson of Cow Lane Smithfield a gentleman extremely well known for his elegant deportment and manners'). There was also the hatter Richard Hodgson c.1760-1821? who was an active member of the London Corresponding Socy and served in Newgate for treasonable practices from 1798, and the printer Edward Hodgson or Hodson of 22 Bell Yard mentioned by Thomas Hardy in his interrogation by the Privy Council (Nat Arch TS11/963). But William Hodgson being a Newgate inmate at the time seems a more likely candidate. If the Hudson of 28.9.1793 was William Hodgson it is remarkable that Godwin first saw him just two days before he was arrested with Charles Pigott for calling the King a hog's butcher; The call of 30.3.1796 was immediately after Hodgson's release from Newgate (Nat Arch HO77/3) and the meeting of 28.4.1796 shortly before Hodgson stood as a candidate for Chichester, obtaining 10 votes but withdrawing from the contest after the first day's poll (Hist of Parliament).

Criminal register 1793 age 30, 5 foot 4 ins, sallow complexion hazel eyes dark brown hair. W Hodgson MD Old Bailey subscribed 1795 to Wiliiam Winterbotham's America

AMENDMENTS TO OXFORD DNB

WILLIAM HODGSON 1745-1851
CURRENT TEXT "(1745-1851)"
SUGGESTED CHANGE <(1745x1764-1851)>
CURRENT TEXT "on 2 March 1851, at the age of 106."
SUGGESTED CHANGE <on 2 March 1851, at the age of 106, according to his obituaries, but by his age of 30 given in the Newgate Criminal Register in 1794, he was only 87.>
NOTES When he was confined in Newgate for seditious words the trial report 4.12.1793 and the criminal register 1.9.1794 spelt his name Hudson and his age was given as 30. Since the only evidence for his age at death being 106 is the notice in the Gents Mag (and his death certificate - see comment below), this casts some doubt on his date of birth. A copy of his compilation 'The Fabulator' in the Bodleian Library was inscribed by him in 1833 to his godson William G Hodgson of Eglesfield Abbey (in Carlisle) which corroborates the statement in the Gents Mag that he came from an ancient border family. A William Hodgson was bound in 1777 for 3 years to John Hodgson, apothecary & surgeon of Carlisle, which fits well with his age as given in the criminal register

Jan 2015 the DNB has adopted my scepticism about his great age but phrased it differently, and they have credited my website in the Sources