HODGSON, STUDHOLME (1708–1798), field-marshal, stated to have been a Cumberland man, entered the army as ensign 1st foot guards (in Captain Francis Williamson's company) 2 Jan. 1728, became lieutenant and captain in the regiment 3 Feb. 1741, and captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1747 (Home Office Mil. Entry Book, xiii. f. 389, xviii. f. 213, xxi. f. 315). He was a friend of General Oglethorpe, and was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland at Fontenoy and Culloden. Henry Conway and others of the staff nicknamed him ‘the old boy,’ on account of his long-standing seniority. When a number of new regiments were added to the army in 1756, Hodgson was appointed to raise the regiment originally numbered as the 52nd, afterwards the 50th foot, and now the royal West Kent regiment, the rendezvous of which was at Norwich; in 1757 he commanded a brigade in the Rochfort expedition. He retained the colonelcy of the 52nd until 1759, in which year he became major-general, and was transferred to the colonelcy of the 5th foot. In 1761 he commanded the expedition against Belle Isle. He arrived off Belle Isle on 25 March, and the famous siege was ended, after a most gallant defence, by the surrender of the castle on 7 June 1761. He received high compliments from the king and Pitt for a service which had a decided influence upon the peace negotiations. He was appointed governor of Fort George and Fort Augustus in 1765, and in 1768 was transferred to the colonelcy 4th king's own foot. Before he left the 5th foot there was founded the regimental ‘order of merit,’ which still exists in that corps (now the Northumberland fusiliers), and is the only institution of the kind now extant in the British army. Hodgson became a general in 1778, was in succession colonel of the 4th Irish or Black Horse, now 7th dragoon guards, and 11th dragoons, now hussars, and on 30 July 1796 was created a field-marshal. Hodgson died at his residence in Old Burlington Street, London, on 20 Oct. 1798, aged 90. There is a portrait of Hodgson in mezzotint engraved in 1759.
Hodgson married Catherine, second daughter of Lieutenant-General Thomas Howard, and sister of Field Marshal Sir George Howard [q. v.] She died 16 April 1798, having had three sons and two daughters. One son, John Hodgson (1757–1846) [q. v.], is separately noticed.
[Home Office Mil. Entry Books in Public Record Office, London; Army Lists; H. Howard of Corby's Indications, &c., of the Howard Family, privately printed; Bromley's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, p. 379; Maclachlan's Order Book of William, Duke of Cumberland (London, 1876). For accounts of the siege of Belle Isle see Mahon's and Hume and Smollett's Histories of England, and a manuscript journal of the siege in the library, Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich. Hodgson's Letters to the Duke of Newcastle in 1761–2 are among Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 32, 944, 32, 954–5, 32, 962, 32, 966. For an account of the order of merit in 5th foot see Cannon's Hist. Rec. 5th, or Northumberland Fusiliers, pp. 37–8. Notice of death is given in Gent. Mag. 1798, pt. ii. 914, with references to previous vols.]
HODGSON, WILLIAM, M.D. (1745–1851), politician and author, born in 1745, was descended from an ancient border family, and in early life studied medicine in Holland, where he developed a taste for botany. On his return to England he attended with success, through a severe illness, a member of Lord Holland's family, but he declined Lord Holland's offer of an appointment. He adopted extreme political views, chiefly derived from the French philosophers, and Franklin and Bolivar were among his warmest friends. On 9 Dec. 1793 he was tried at the Old Bailey on charges of having proposed as a toast ‘The French Republic,’ and of having ‘compared the king to a German hog butcher.’ He was found guilty and was sentenced to be confined in Newgate for two years, to pay a fine of 200l., and to find securities in 400l. for two years longer. After regaining his liberty he relinquished politics for literature and science. He died in Hemmington Terrace, Islington, on 2 March 1851, at the age of 106.
Hodgson published: 1. ‘The Picture of the Times,’ 3rd edit. 1795. 2. ‘The Commonwealth of Reason. By W. Hodgson, now confined in the Prison of Newgate, London, for sedition,’ London, 1795, 8vo. 3. ‘The System of Nature,’ from the French of Mirabaud, London, 1795, 8vo. 4. ‘The Case of W. Hodgson, now confined in Newgate for the payment of 200l. after having suffered two years' imprisonment on a charge of sedition, considered and compared with the existing laws of the country,’ London, 1796, 8vo. 5. ‘Proposals for publishing by subscription a treatise called the Female Citizen, or a Historical … Enquiry into the Rights of Women’ [London, 1796?], small sheet, 8vo. 6. ‘The Temple of Apollo, being a Selection of the best Poems from the most esteemed Authors,’ Lond. 1796, 8vo. 7. ‘Memoranda: intended to aid the English Student in the acquirement of the niceties of French Grammar,’ London, 1817, 12mo. 8. ‘A critical Grammar of the French and English Languages; with tabular elucidations,’ London, 1819, 12mo. 9. ‘Flora's Cabinet’ [1835?] in which the
