Description:This is an abridged version of the biography from the Handsworth Magazine Volume 1 January 1895. The full biography is available as a download.
We have much pleasure in now presenting our readers with a sketch of the Rev. Prebendary Hodgson, the highly esteemed Rector of Handsworth Parish Church. It is most gratifying to have to write, however briefly, of the life of one who has been so zealous and faithful not only in the discharge of his clerical duties, but in the works of charity and benevolence which now and so generally fill up the lives of our clergymen and ministers. For considerably more than twenty years, at West Bromwich, Walsall, and Handsworth, Mr Hodgson has devoted the best portion of his life to those labours of love which have for their object the lessening of evil, the alleviation of suffering, the helping of the poor, the education of the ignorant and the elevation of his fellow creatures
Mr Hodgson was born in 1844 and received his education first at Eton, where he won a Foundation Scholarship. He remained six years at this famous school and then passed to Oriel College, Oxford, confirming the promise of his early years.
The Bishop of Lichfield showed his high appreciation of the services and work of Mr Hodgson by offering him the Rectory of Handsworth Parish Church. This, we rejoice to say, was accepted and he was inducted on February 2nd, 1892; and in October of the same year he was appointed Rural Dean of Handsworth. Here, as elsewhere, the Rector has displayed the same conscientiousness in the display of his multifarious duties. He is active on the School Board, as well as in the work in his parish schools; a Working Men’s Club and Recreation Room has been provided and a new Mission Church has been built in Grove Lane at a cost of £1,700. His parish is a large one, comprising some 4500 people, of all classes and conditions and he has already won the trust, the confidence and the affection of his parishioners, for good honest, earnest work never fails in reaching the hearts and in securing a full recognition from those in whose behalf it is carried out. It has been truly said that “He s a clergyman who is popular always, not only with the poorest amongst his flock, but with the dignitaries of the church. That can be seen by the numerous autograph photos of the greater lights of the Church in which his study is filled and the numerous beautiful addresses and other presentations given to him at various periods of his ministry.” In 1894, the Rector was appointed Prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral.