Francis Hodgson
Encyclopedia
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
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He was born 16 November 1781, son of Rev. James Hodgson, Headmaster of Whitgift School
Whitgift School
Whitgift School is an independent day school educating approximately 1,400 boys aged 10 to 18 in South Croydon, London in a parkland site.- History and grounds :...
, whose father James Hodgson had moved from Hawkshead, Cumbria, to be rector of Humber, Herefordshire. Francis and one of his half-sisters were the only two of his father's seven children to live beyond the age of 15.
He was educated as a Scholar at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and was then a Scholar at King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
.
In 1806 he was appointed assistant master at Eton, a post which he resigned after a year to become a resident tutor and Fellow at King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
. It was there that he met and formed a lifelong friendship with the poet Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
, who was at that time an undergraduate at Trinity College. Their friendship is recorded in the many letters between them that have since been published in biographies of Byron.
In 1813 Francis Hodgson wished to marry Susanna Tayler (sister-in-law of Henry Drury
Henry Drury
Henry Joseph Thomas "Harry" Drury was an English educator, classical scholar, and friend of Lord Byron.Henry Drury was born 27 April 1778, at Harrow, London, the son of Joseph Drury, headmaster of Harrow School....
, master at Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
). However Susanna's mother objected to her daughter marrying Hodgson, due to his association with the infamous Byron. Her objection was overcome by Byron himself, who drove with Hodgson in a post-chaise from London to Oxford to plead the cause of his friend, with Susanna's brother Charles Hall
Charles Henry Hall
Charles Henry Hall was an English churchman and academic, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford and then Dean of Durham.-Life:He was the son of Charles Hall, dean of Bocking, Essex, and uncle of watercolour artist John Frederick Tayler. He was admitted to Westminster School in 1775, was elected Christ...
, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.
In March 1840 Hodgson returned to Eton, having been nominated to be Provost of Eton by the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (whose wife Lady Caroline Lamb
Lady Caroline Lamb
The Lady Caroline Lamb was a British aristocrat and novelist, best known for her affair with Lord Byron in 1812. Her husband was the 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the Prime Minister...
had, coincidentally, been Byron's lover) and the Queen. The Fellows of Eton however rejected the Queen's nomination on the basis that Hodgson was not a D.D.
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
, the qualification that had always previously been required for the post. The Fellows instead elected John Lonsdale, but when Lonsdale became aware of the situation, he stood down in favour of Hodgson.
As he drove over Fifteen Arch Bridge to begin his tenure as Provost, Hodgson was reported to have said, "Please God, if I live, I will do something for those poor boys." While he was Provost, which was until the end of his life, Hodgson "quite disappointed the best wishes of his enemies, and proved one of the best friends that Eton ever had."
Hodgson made many reforms to the college, intended to lessen the harshness of conditions for pupils. Together with the headmaster Hawtrey
Edward Craven Hawtrey
Edward Craven Hawtrey was an English educationalist.He was born at Burnham in Norfolk, the son of the vicar of the parish. He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, and in 1814 was appointed assistant master at Eton under Dr John Keate...
he abolished Long Chamber (the space in which Collegers lived, of which it was said in 1834, "wherever the fame of Eton had spread, the name of Long Chamber was both a proverb and a reproach."), ceased the custom of Montem
Eton Montem
Eton Montem was a custom observed by Eton College from at least 1561 until it was finally suppressed in 1847, at the Montem Mound in Chalvey, Slough, Buckinghamshire The mound is situated some 2 miles from the college near the London to Bath coach road, now the A4.Montem is first reported in...
, and closed the old Christopher Inn. "Few of our benefactors have done more 'for those poor boys.' "
In 1838 Hodgson married as his second wife, Eliza, daughter of Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman
Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman
Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman PC KC was a British lawyer, judge and politician. He served as Lord Chief Justice between 1832 and 1850.-Background and education:Denman was born in London, the son of Dr Thomas Denman...
.
He died 30 December 1852 in the Lodge at Eton, and was buried in the College Chapel.
His portrait hangs in the College Hall at Eton.
He was author of, among others, a translation of Juvenal (1808); Lady Jane Grey, with Miscellaneous Poems in English and Latin (1809); and Sir Edgar, a Tale, in two Cantos (1810).
In October 2009, 15 letters to Hodgson from Byron sold for £277,350, a world record for a series of letters or a manuscript by a British romantic poet.