Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hodgson, Studholme
HODGSON, STUDHOLME (1708–1798), field-marshal, stated to have been a Cumberland man, entered the army as ensign 1st foot guards (in Captain Francis Williamson's company) 2 Jan. 1728, became lieutenant and captain in the regiment 3 Feb. 1741, and captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1747 (Home Office Mil. Entry Book, xiii. f. 389, xviii. f. 213, xxi. f. 315). He was a friend of General Oglethorpe, and was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland at Fontenoy and Culloden. Henry Conway and others of the staff nicknamed him ‘the old boy,’ on account of his long-standing seniority. When a number of new regiments were added to the army in 1756, Hodgson was appointed to raise the regiment originally numbered as the 52nd, afterwards the 50th foot, and now the royal West Kent regiment, the rendezvous of which was at Norwich; in 1757 he commanded a brigade in the Rochfort expedition. He retained the colonelcy of the 52nd until 1759, in which year he became major-general, and was transferred to the colonelcy of the 5th foot. In 1761 he commanded the expedition against Belle Isle. He arrived off Belle Isle on 25 March, and the famous siege was ended, after a most gallant defence, by the surrender of the castle on 7 June 1761. He received high compliments from the king and Pitt for a service which had a decided influence upon the peace negotiations. He was appointed governor of Fort George and Fort Augustus in 1765, and in 1768 was transferred to the colonelcy 4th king's own foot. Before he left the 5th foot there was founded the regimental ‘order of merit,’ which still exists in that corps (now the Northumberland fusiliers), and is the only institution of the kind now extant in the British army. Hodgson became a general in 1778, was in succession colonel of the 4th Irish or Black Horse, now 7th dragoon guards, and 11th dragoons, now hussars, and on 30 July 1796 was created a field-marshal. Hodgson died at his residence in Old Burlington Street, London, on 20 Oct. 1798, aged 90. There is a portrait of Hodgson in mezzotint engraved in 1759.
Hodgson married Catherine, second daughter of Lieutenant-General Thomas Howard, and sister of Field Marshal Sir George Howard [q. v.] She died 16 April 1798, having had three sons and two daughters. One son, John Hodgson (1757–1846) [q. v.], is separately noticed.
[Home Office Mil. Entry Books in Public Record Office, London; Army Lists; H. Howard of Corby's Indications, &c., of the Howard Family, privately printed; Bromley's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, p. 379; Maclachlan's Order Book of William, Duke of Cumberland (London, 1876). For accounts of the siege of Belle Isle see Mahon's and Hume and Smollett's Histories of England, and a manuscript journal of the siege in the library, Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich. Hodgson's Letters to the Duke of Newcastle in 1761–2 are among Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 32, 944, 32, 954–5, 32, 962, 32, 966. For an account of the order of merit in 5th foot see Cannon's Hist. Rec. 5th, or Northumberland Fusiliers, pp. 37–8. Notice of death is given in Gent. Mag. 1798, pt. ii. 914, with references to previous vols.]