Identity:

Henry John Hodgson was a Master of the Supreme Court of Judicature. There is some doubt of his date of birth; the Times saying in 1890 that he died at the age of 94, which would give a birth date of 1796, whereas Foster implies he was born in 1817.

Life:

Hodgson was called to the Bar in 1842 and in 1861 worked in the Common Pleas office. In 1879 he was appointed Master of the Supreme Court of Judicature at the Royal Courts of Justice. He published on a number of legal subjects, including An Analytical Digest of the Statutes and Cases Relating to the Practice of Appeals against Orders of Removal (1845), The Acts to Amend the Law Relating to the Removal of the Poor (1848), A Summary of the Law as applied to the Rating of Railways (1851) and Parish Law (1857).

Hodgson was involved in the events preceding the Whistler v. Ruskin libel trial in 1878. He was also involved in the Nightingale v. Whistler trial in 1879.

Bibliography:

Kelly's Post Office London Directory, London, 1861, 1862; Foster, Joseph, Men at the Bar, London, 1886; The Times, London, Friday, 14 February 1890, p. 1.