Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dodson, John
DODSON, Sir JOHN (1780–1858), judge of the prerogative court, eldest son of the Rev. Dr. John Dodson, rector of Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, who died in July 1807, by Frances, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Dawson, was born at Hurstpierpoint 19 Jan. 1780. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1790, and proceeded to Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. 1801, M.A. 1804, and D.C.L. 1808. He was admitted an advocate of the College of Doctors of Laws 3 Nov. 1808, and acted as commissary to the dean and chapter of Westminster. From July 1819 to March 1823 he represented Rye in parliament as a tory member. On 11 March 1829 he was appointed by the Duke of Wellington to the office of advocate to the admiralty court, and on being named advocate-general, 15 Oct. 1834, was knighted at St. James's Palace on the 29th of the same month. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple 8 Nov. 1834, and in the following year was elected a bencher of his inn. He became master of the faculties in November 1841, and vicar-general to the lord primate in 1849. From Feb. 1852 he was judge of the prerogative court of Canterbury until the abolition of this jurisdiction, 9 Dec. 1857, and was dean of the arches court till his death. He was sworn a privy councillor 5 April 1852, and died at 6 Seamore Place, Mayfair, London, 27 April 1858. By his marriage, 24 Dec. 1822, to Frances Priscilla, eldest daughter of George Pearson, M.D. of London, he left an only son, John George Dodson, barrister, of Lincoln's Inn, who was elected M.P. for East Sussex in April 1857 and created Lord Monk Bretton in 1884. Sir John Dodson was concerned in the following works: 1. ‘A Report of the Case of Dalrymple the Wife against Dalrymple the Husband,’ 1811. 2. ‘Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Admiralty,’ 1811–22, London, 1815–1828, another ed. 1853. 3. ‘A Report of the Case of the Louis appealed from the Admiralty Court at Sierra Leone, and determined in the High Court of Admiralty,’ 1817. 4. ‘A Digested Index of the Cases determined in the High Court of Admiralty, contained in the Reports of Robinson, Edwards, and Dodson,’ by Joshua Greene, 1818. 5. ‘A Report of the Judgment in the Case of Sullivan against Sullivan, falsely called Oldacre,’ 1818. 6. ‘Lawful Church Ornaments, by J. W. Perry. With an Appendix on the Judgment of the Right Hon. Sir J. Dodson in the appeal Liddell v. Westerton,’ 1857. 7. ‘A Review of the Judgment of Sir John Dodson in the case of Liddell v. Westerton,’ by C. F. Trower, 1857. 8. ‘The Judgment of the Right Hon. Sir J. Dodson, also the Judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of Liddell and Horne against Westerton,’ by A. F. Bayford, 1857.
[Law Times, 26 Dec. 1857, p. 198, and 1 May 1858, p. 87; Times, 10 Dec. 1857, p. 11, 19 Dec. 1857, p. 9, and 29 April 1858, p. 9; Gent. Mag. June 1858, p. 670.]