Charles Dodgson (bishop)

Charles Dodgson FRS (c. 1722 – 21 January 1795) was an English Anglican cleric who served in the Church of Ireland as the Bishop of Ossory (1765–1775) then Bishop of Elphin (1775–1795).

The Right Reverend Charles Dodgson FRS
Bishop of Elphin
Church	Church of Ireland
Province	Armagh
Diocese	Elphin
Appointed	12 April 1775
Term ended	21 January 1795
Predecessor	Jemmett Browne
Successor	John Law
Other posts	Bishop of Ossory (1765–1775)
Orders
Consecration	11 August 1765 by William Carmichael
Personal details
Born	c. 1722 Howden, Yorkshire, England
Died	21 January 1795 Dublin, Ireland
Buried	St. Bride's Church, Dublin
Nationality	English
Denomination	Anglican
Spouse	Mary Frances Smyth ​ (m. 1768)​
Children	Three sons, one daughter
Alma mater	St. John's College, Cambridge

Dodgson was born in Howden, Yorkshire. His date of birth is not recorded; he was baptised on 10 January 1722. His father, Christopher Dodgson (1696–1750), was the curate there. Charles Dodgson was educated at Westminster School and St. John's College, Cambridge.

After ordination, he was appointed to the parish of Bintry, Norfolk in 1746. He moved to the north of England, keeping a school at Stanwix in Cumberland and becoming Rector of Kirby Wiske in 1755. He was tutor to Lord Algernon Percy, the son of the Duke of Northumberland; in 1762, the Duke gave him the parish of Elsdon, Northumberland. Dodgson was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1762.[1]

Rapidly promoted, he was nominated to the bishopric of Ossory on 22 June and consecrated at St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin on 11 August 1765 by William Carmichael, Archbishop of Dublin.[2][3] Ten years later, he was translated to the bishopric of Elphin by letters patent on 12 April 1775.[4][5] King George III congratulated him on this promotion, saying that he ought indeed to be thankful to have got away from a palace where the stabling was so bad.[6]

Marriage and children

In 1768, he married Mary Frances Smyth (1749–1796). Among their children were Captain Charles Dodgson (1769?–1803), Elizabeth Anne Dodgson (1770–1836) and 2nd Lieut. Percy Currer Dodgson RN (1782–1807). Captain Dodgson was the father of Charles Dodgson (Archdeacon of Richmond) and the grandfather of Lewis Carroll. Elizabeth Dodgson married Major Charles Lutwidge; among their children was Frances, mother of Lewis Carroll.

He died in Dublin on 21 January 1795 and was buried at St. Bride's Church, Dublin.[4][5]

Notes

1. Thomas Thomson (1812). "Appendix IV". History of the Royal Society: From Its Institution to the End of the Eighteenth Century. R. Baldwin. p. xl.
2. Cotton 1848, The Province of Leinster, p. 287.
3. Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 404.
4. Cotton 1850, The Province of Connaught, p. 129.
5. Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 393.
6. Collingwood 1898, The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll, p. 5.

References

• Cohen, Morton (1995). Lewis Carroll: A Biography. Macmillan. p. 4. ISBN 0-333-62926-4.
• Collingwood, Stuart Dodgson (1898). The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll. London: T. Fisher Unwin. pp. 3–5.
• Mr Dodgson, Nine Lewis Carroll Studies. Lewis Carroll Society. 1973. p. 8.
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
• Cotton, Henry (1848). The Province of Leinster. Fasti Ecclesiae Hiberniae: The Succession of the Prelates and Members of the Cathedral Bodies of Ireland. Volume 2. Dublin: Hodges and Smith.
• Cotton, Henry (1850). The Province of Connaught. Fasti Ecclesiae Hiberniae: The Succession of the Prelates and Members of the Cathedral Bodies of Ireland. Volume 4. Dublin: Hodges and Smith.