A
Crested Family Line That Perished
By
Christina Millest
Richard Hodgson
(1707-1799) and his wife Mary (nee Clark 1719-1794) had 13 issue.
Fice sons and three daughters survived to adulthood: Wilfred
(1744-1778), William (1745-1775), Richard (later Sir,
1749/50-1836). George (c1750-1780), Jane (Mrs. Giles,
will proved 1814), Sarah (Mrs. Sturdy), Elizabeth (1.Mrs.
James, 2.Mrs.Boucher), and James (w.p.1825). Their father was
a mercer and alderman of Carlisle, and owned considerable real estate
in the city, consisting of dwelling houses, shops, warehouses and land.
He had stocks and shares in the Old Brewery Company and in the "Stampery
Company" which printed, stamped, bought and sold cotton and linen
cloth. His business premises, or some of them, appear to have been in
Scotch Street. Mercantile links with India were strong at that time,
and no doubt the mercers' business flourished--and East India Ale was
to be a lucrative export for the Brewery.
This direct male
line died out completely in one generation. Three of his sons, William,
George and James, were in service of the East India Company.
Conditions were hard for expatriate employees, the climate uncongenial,
warfare a constant hazard, medical care rudimentary, drink and opium
the preferred consolations; and determined attempts to reproduce a European
lifestyle without the resources were doomed to failure. Very few Englishmen
of the period could live there. It has been called 'a graveyard for
British youth' of the period. The death rate for young men was high--50%
died within five years of arrival.
William and
George (who was 'secretary' of the Company in Calcutta) died young,
both aged 30 and unmarried. James, the youngest of the family
by about 15 years, perhaps benefited from some later improvements in
conditions. He became a Colonel in the Bengal Establishment and his
wife, Maria Theresa, was presumably Spanish. They had two daughters,
Maria and Isabella (their birth dates unknown). James
lived until probably in his late 50s.
Richard's eldest
sons Wilfred and Richard stayed in the family business. Wilfred
one would have expected to be destined to inherit his father's position
of responsibility and major share of his fortune, although curiously
he was bequeathed very little of his father's property according to
his will. Perhaps he was already a partner, or it was intended he should
acquire a larger share after his mother's death. Or could he have been
unsuited in some way, perhaps through poor health? He was another unmarried
son and was to die young in 1778 aged 34, after his father but before
his mother. Richard Hodgson, the third son, was actively involved,
later knighted, and gave his name to the Brewery Company. Now he was
the last of he brothers alive in England--but why had he not married?
Although he was only in his late 40s and lived another 9 years, he made
his will in 1797, as if he did not expect to leave issue. With James
still unmarried (or perhaps without children yet--the will makes no
mention of any) the Hodgson name seemed destined to die out,
Richard had recourse to a practice that was not uncommon in those
days.
Sir Richard's
eldest sister Jane and her husband William Giles had one
son and three daughters. The boy, christened William Richard,
was now perhaps regarded as the principal heir to the family fortunes.
His uncle's will is lengthy, complicated and much concerned with primogeniture
and the heirs male for years to come. Basically, it divided the estate
between James and his nieces and this one nephew, William
Richard Giles. However, there were conditions:
"I (Sir
Richard Hodgson) do hereby order and direct when as soon as my
said nephew William Richard Giles or the Heirs Male of his
body shall respectively or successfully become seized of or entitled
to the Actual Possession of (details of bequest) he and they and every
of them shall use assume and take upon him and themselves respectively
and afterwards continue the surname (Hodgson) and bear the arms of
Hodgson instead of his or their surname and arms or by adding
the same thereto and shall write and style him and themselves respectively
..." {and s on}.
Should these descendants
'refuse or neglect' these stipulations at any time from six months after
coming into their inheritance, the provisions of the bequest would 'cease
and be void'. One may imagine that such conditions might well be acceptable
to an impoverished relative, who had not made a name for himself in
the world and could happily make a fresh start with a welcome bequest
and a new identity, if that was required. But we have the will of this
same William Richard Giles, dated 1812. Partner in a firm of
Carlisle attorneys, he no doubt had already set his foot on his own
chosen ladder by the time his uncle died in 1806 and at a guess was
content to let his share of the Hodgson family inheritance be
divided among his female relatives. He still styled himself William
Giles. As for the Hodgson arms, they ended up as a trademark
on Hodgson's bottled beer.
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