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.]
DODSON, MICHAEL (1732–1799), lawyer, only son of Joseph Dodson, dissenting minister at Marlborough, Wiltshire, was born there in September 1732. He was educated at Marlborough grammar school, and then, in accordance with the advice of Sir Michael Foster, justice of the king's bench, was entered at the Middle Temple 31 Aug. 1754. He practised for many years as a special pleader (some of his opinions are among the Museum manuscripts, Add. MS. 6709, ff. 113, 131), but was finally called to the bar 4 July 1783. In 1770 he had been appointed one of the commissioners of bankruptcy. This post he held till his death, which took place at his house, Boswell Court, Carey Street, 13 Nov. 1799. In 1778 Dodson married his cousin, Elizabeth Hawkes of Marlborough.
Dodson's legal writings were an edition with notes and references of Sir Michael Foster's ‘Report of some Proceedings on the Commission for the Trial of Rebels in the year 1746 in the County of Surrey, and of other crown cases’ (3rd edition 1792). In 1795 Dodson wrote a ‘Life of Sir Michael Foster.’ This, originally intended for the new edition of the ‘Biographia Britannica,’ was published in 1811 with a preface by John Disney. Dodson, who was a unitarian in religion, took considerable interest in biblical studies. In 1790 he published ‘A New Translation of Isaiah, with Notes Supplementary to those of Dr. Louth, late Bishop of London. By a Layman.’ This led to a controversy, conducted with good temper and moderation, with Dr. Sturges, nephew of the bishop, who replied in ‘Short Remarks’ (1791), and was in turn answered by Dodson in a ‘Letter to the Rev. Dr. Sturges, Author of “Short Remarks,” on a New Translation of Isaiah.’ Dodson wrote some other theological tracts.
[General Biog. 1802, iii. 416 et seq., contributed by Disney; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
DODSWORTH, ROGER (1585–1654), antiquary, son of Matthew Dodsworth, registrar of York Cathedral, was born at Newton Grange, Oswaldkirk, Yorkshire, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Ralph Sandwith. The date, according to his own account, was 24 July 1585, but the parish register of Oswaldkirk states that he was baptised on 24 April. In 1599 Dodsworth was sent to Archbishop Hutton's school at Warton, Lancashire, under Miles Dawson, afterwards vicar of Bolton. In 1605 he witnessed the execution of Walter Calverley [q. v.] at York. At an early age Dodsworth became an antiquary. In 1605 he prepared a pedigree, which is still extant. His father's official connection with York Cathedral gave Dodsworth opportunities of examining its archives, and he seems to have made in his youth the acquaintance of the Fairfaxes of Denton, Yorkshire, who encouraged him to persevere in his antiquarian pursuits. In September 1611 he married Holcroft, widow of Lawrence Rawsthorne of Hutton Grange, near Preston, Lancashire, and daughter of Robert Hesketh of Rufford, by Mary, daughter of Sir George Stanley. Dodsworth took up his residence at his wife's house at Hutton Grange, and only left it on antiquarian expeditions. He visited nearly all the churches of Yorkshire; studied in London in the library of Sir Robert Cotton; paid a first visit to the Tower of London in 1623, and in 1646 examined the Clifford
