HODSON, Robert (by 1510-72/73), of Winchester, Hants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1554

Family and Education

b. by 1510. m. Frideswide, da. of Peter Byrd of Winchester, 3s. 1da.2

Offices Held

Bailiff, Winchester 1538-9, mayor 1545-6, 1551-2, 1564-5.3

Biography

Robert Hodson settled in Winchester about the year 1537, when he became a freeman, and from that date he was active in city affairs. He was a successful woollen draper who lived in the High Street, in one of the several properties which he leased from the city. In 1568 he sold a tenement and garden to Sir Robert Oxenbridge and shortly before his death he purchased several properties, including the nearby manor of Otterbourne, from the city.4

Although Hodson bought discarded church goods in 1548 he was generally conservative in religion: he was put out of the election for mayor in 1562 because he had been excommunicate for a year and when he was elected two years later Bishop Horne placed ‘Hodson the mayor’ first on his list of ‘mislikers of religion of the chief authority’ at Winchester. On 4 Nov. 1564 he was ordered to appear before the Council with the two bailiffs. A week later they were committed to the Marshalsea for ‘contemptuous behaviour’ in not aiding the sheriff to apprehend the wife of Anthony Harman of Winchester, who had remained excommunicate for the past two years. Hodson and the bailiffs were released on 23 Nov. on giving bonds of 100 marks apiece that they would arrest Harman if they could, his wife having been already sent to prison.5

Hodson’s Membership of Parliament was a natural extension of his civic career, following soon after his second mayoralty, and on each of the three consecutive occasions that he sat in the Commons during the reign of Queen Mary he did so in the company of William Lawrence. It is not known what part he played in the House, but his early departure with Lawrence from the Parliament of November 1554, without first obtaining leave, brought retribution: both of them were prosecuted in the King’s bench, where in Michaelmas term 1555 they made an appearance and were given until the following term to answer. In Hilary term 1556 they submitted and were both fined 53s.4d., each standing surety for the other’s payment of the fine.6

Hodson made his will in July 1572 and it was proved at Winchester in May 1573. After the death of his wife his houses and lands in and around the city were to be divided between his four children. He was buried in Winchester cathedral.7

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Authors: Patricia Hyde / A. B. Rosen

Notes

  • 1. Huntington Lib. Hastings mss Parl. pprs.
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from age given in deposition, E321/39/25. Hants RO, wills B1572, B1581.
  • 3. Stowe 846, f. 4.
  • 4. E321/39/25; Hants RO, Winchester chamberlains’ accts. 30-31 Hen. VIII, 20-21 Eliz.; Stowe 846, f. 194v.
  • 5. Procs. Hants Field Club, viii. 22; Hants RO, Winchester 1st Bk. Ordinances, ff. 132v, 140v; Cam. Misc. ix (3) 57; APC, vii. 156, 162, 164, 166-7.
  • 6. KB27/1176, 1177.
  • 7. Hants RO, wills B1572.