he thus earned large sums, he continued to be extravagant and in difficulties. In 1817, after the close of the war, Hobday returned to the metropolis, and took a large house in Broad Street, City, hoping to renew his earlier artistic and social connections; but in this he was disappointed, though patronised by Baron Rothschild, for whom he painted a family group at the price of a thousand guineas. In 1821 he removed to 54 Pall Mall, which had large galleries attached to it; and after a disastrous speculation in a panoramic exhibition, called the 'Poecilorama,' at the Egyptian Hall, he opened these galleries for the sale of pictures on commission. Though supported by all the leading English and many French artists, the venture proved a complete failure, and in 1820 Hobday became a bankrupt. He died 17 Feb. 1831, having lost his wife two years previously. Throughout his chequered career he was a constant exhibitor at the Royal Academy, frequently contributing during his residence at Bristol.
In 1819 he sent a portrait of the Duke of Sussex; his best work was a picture of Carolus the hermit of Tong. His portrait of Miss Biggs in the charahter of Cora, and that of Richard Reynolds, the Bristol philanthropist, have been engraved, the latter by W. Sharp. He was always well patronised, and obtained good prices for his works, but the quality of his art suffered greatly from his restless and improvident habits.
[A long memoir of Hobday will be found in Arnold's Library of the Fine Arts, ii. 384; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880: Royal Academy Catalogues.]
HOBHOUSE, Sir BENJAMIN (1757–1831), politician, born in 1757, son of John Hobhouse, merchant at Bristol, received his education at the grammar school there, and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. in 1778, M.A. in 1781. He was called to the bar by the society of the Middle Temple in the latter year. At the general election of 1796 he stood for Bristol without success, but in February 1797 was elected M.P. for Bletchingley, Surrey, in 1802 for Grampound, Cornwall, and in 1806 for Hindon, Wiltshire, which borough he represented till he withdrew from political life in 1818. In 1803 he took office under Addington as secretary to the board of control. He resigned this in May 1804, and in 1805 was appointed chairman of the committees for supplies. He was also first commissioner for investigating the debts of the nabobs of the Carnatic. He was made a baronet on 22 Dec. 1812. Hobhouse was president of the Bath and West of England Society (1805–17), and his bust by Chantrey was placed in the society's rooms. He was chairman of the committee of the Literary Fund, and a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. He died at Berkeley Square on 14 Aug. 1831. Hobhouse was twice married: first, in September 1785, to Charlotte, daughter of Samuel Cam of Chantry House, near Bradford, Wiltshire;’ she died 25 Nov. 1791; secondly, in April 1793, to Amelia, daughter of the Rev. Joshua Parry of Cirencester. By his first wife he had five children, and by his second fourteen. His eldest son was John Cam Hobhouse [q. v.], afterwards Lord Broughton. The second, Benjamin, became a captain in the 69th foot, and fell at Waterloo. Portraits of Hobhouse were painted by J. Jackson, R.A., and T. Phillips, R.A.; the latter was engraved by P. Audinet.
Hobhouse wrote: 1. ‘A Treatise on Heresy as cognisable by the Spiritual Courts, and an Examination of the Statute of William III for Suppressing Blasphemy and Profaneness,’ 1792. 2. ‘A Reply to F. Randolph's Letter to Dr. Priestley; or an Examination of F. Randolph's Scriptural Revision of Socinian Arguments,’ Trowbridge, 1792; another edition, Bath, 1793. Answered by F. Randolph in ‘Scriptural Revision of Socinian Arguments, vindicated against the Reply of Benjamin Hobhouse,’ 1793. 3. Three letters addressed to ‘the several Patriotic Societies in London and its neighbourhood,’ and to the editor of the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ occasioned by the ‘prevailing disposition to riot and insurrection,’ 1792. 4. ‘An Inquiry into what constitutes the Crime of compassing and imagining the King's Death,’ 1795. 5. ‘Remarks on several parts of France, Italy, &c., in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785,’ Bath, 1796. 6. A collection of ‘Tracts,’ 1797.
[Gent. Mag. 1831, pt. ii. pp. 371, 372, 653; Cat. Oxford Grad.; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Foster's Baronetage; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Add. MSS. 27823 f. 362, 29184 f. 87 (a letter to Warren Hastings about a sack of barley), 32166 f. 25.]
HOBHOUSE, HENRY (1776–1854), archivist, only son of Henry Hobhouse of Hadspen House, Somerset, barrister, who died 2 April 1792, by Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Richard Jenkyns, canon residentiary of Wells, was born at Clifton, near Bristol, on 12 April 1776, and went to Eton in 1791. He matriculated from Brasenose College, Oxford, on 10 April 1793, graduated B.A. 1797, M.A. 1799, and was created D.C.L. 27 June 1827. On 23 Jan. 1801 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, was solicitor to H.M. Customs from 1806 to 1812, and then
