Author: Pre-Install User

HANDSWORTH

 
A  LOCAL  SOCIETY  MAGAZINE

CIRCULATING IN HANDSWORTH, PERRY BARR AND BIRCHFIELDS.

Vol. I				JANUARY, 1895.				No. 7.

Our Picture Gallery.

No. 7. – THE REV. PREBENDARY R HODGSON, M.A., R.D.
We have much pleasure in now presenting our readers with a sketch of the Rev. Prebendary Hodgson, the highly esteemed Rector of Handsworth Parish Church.  It is most gratifying to have to write, however briefly, of the life of one who has been so zealous and faithful not only in the discharge of his clerical duties, but in the works of charity and benevolence which now and so generally fill up the lives of our clergymen and ministers.  For considerably more than twenty years, at West Bromwich, Walsall, and Handsworth, Mr Hodgson has devoted the best portion of his life to those labours of love which have for their object the lessening of evil, the alleviation of suffering, the helping of the poor, the education of the ignorant and the elevation of his fellow creatures; and happily in his case, the labour has not been without its reward, for in addition to that which comes from the consciousness of years well employed, he enjoys the satisfaction of knowing that thousands of those for whose benefit and well-being he has striven have been blessed by his earnest and self-denying labours.

Mr Hodgson was born in 1844 and received his education first at Eton, where he won a Foundation Scholarship.  He remained six years at this famous school and then passed to Oriel College, Oxford, confirming the promise of his early years.  At college he gained high honours, including an open Scholarship and a Classical Exhibition.  In 1867 he took his degree of B.A and then made a short tour in Italy, enlarging his experience and gathering much useful knowledge of “men and manners.”  On his return from his travels he was ordained by Bishop Selwyn, in Lichfield Cathedral, in 1868.  His first curacy was at Stoke-on-Trent, where he remained for four years with Sir Lovelace Stainer, Bishop (now Suffragan) of Shrewsbury.  In this place he displayed that earnestness and ability which have so eminently distinguished his subsequent career.

We now reach the period in which his more responsible work begins. In 1872, Earl Dartmouth presented him with the living of Christ Church, West Bromwich, and the presence of an earnest and energetic clergyman was soon apparent in the awakening of new spiritual life in that industrial centre.  In a short time the church was thoroughly restored; a new organ provided; the new Mission Church of St John’s was built, to which an ecclesiastical district has been assigned. A portion of the parish was reserved for the new Mission Church of St Andrews’s and was also provided a site for another Mission Church for the East part of the district.  All this new work was carried on while the regular spiritual labours of the incumbent were most thoroughly discharged.  Nor did these fruitful occupations exhaust the efforts of Mr Hodgson.  While discharging these especially clerical duties, he took a full share in the good public work of the place.  He was a useful and active member of the West Bromwich School Board, and of the Committee of the West Bromwich District Hospital.  In both his help and counsel were of the greatest service and won the respect and confidence of his colleagues.  This was manifested in a very gratifying manner – by the presentation of a set of dining-room furniture and an illuminated address from his colleagues on the School Board, the majority of whom were Nonconformists.

For eleven years these useful labours were continued at West Bromwich, when in 1883 the Earl of Bradford offered and Mr Hodgson accepted, the living at Walsall.  The knowledge of his good work had preceded him and his new parishioners gave him a most hearty welcome, while his old ones deeply regretted his loss.  Here he was appointed Rural Dean and again the account of his life is a simple record of earnest and active labours for the good of all among whom his life was passed.  He entered into the public as well as the church work of the town.  He was Chairman of the Managers of the Blue Coat Schools, which educate upwards of a thousand children in average attendance; was Vice-President of the Walsall Literary Institute and of the Science and Art Institute and above all of the Committee of the famous Cottage Hospital with which the beloved and revered name of Sister Dora is so intimately associated.  In his work on the School Board and in his other philanthropic labours he was helped and cheered by the loving sympathy and co-operation of Mrs Hodgson.

Such earnest and continuous work was not carried on without a price.  The strain on health had been too much.  Eleven years at West Bromwich and nine years at Walsall told on his constitution and in 1891 he was compelled to retire from his labours and travel abroad for his health’s sake.  Much benefit was obtained by this necessary holiday and on his return the Bishop of Lichfield showed his high appreciation of the services and work of Mr Hodgson by offering him the Rectory of Handsworth Parish Church.  This, we rejoice to say, was accepted and he was inducted on February 2^nd, 1892; and in October of the same year he was appointed Rural Dean of Handsworth.  Here, as elsewhere, the Rector has displayed the same conscientiousness in the display of his multifarious duties.  He is active on the School Board, as well as in the work in his parish schools; a Working Men’s Club and Recreation Room has been provided and a new Mission Church has been built in Grove Lane at a cost of £1,700.  His parish is a large one, comprising some 4500 people, of all classes and conditions and he has already won the trust, the confidence and the affection of his parishioners, for good honest, earnest work never fails in reaching the hearts and in securing a full recognition from those in whose behalf it is carried out.  It has been truly said that “He s a clergyman who is popular always, not only with the poorest amongst his flock, but with the dignitaries of the church.  That can be seen by the numerous autograph photos of the greater lights of the Church in which his study is filled and the numerous beautiful addresses and other presentations given to him at various periods of his ministry.”

In 1894, the Rector was appointed Prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral and all who know him personally, or only by his work, will join with us in wishing him health and strength to continue his beneficent and self-denying labours for many, many years to come.