William Dodd
William Dodd (1729–1777) was an English Anglican clergyman and author who served as Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England. He was convicted of forgery and executed at Tyburn on 27 June 1777, despite a campaign for a pardon supported by Samuel Johnson.[1][2]
Clerical and literary career
Dodd became a royal chaplain in 1763 and later held the living of Hockliffe in Bedfordshire. His published works included The Beauties of Shakespeare and religious writings. His expenses and debts became increasingly difficult to meet.[1][3]
Freemasonry
The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon's historical account records Dodd's initiation in St Alban's Lodge No. 29 in April 1775 and his appointment as Grand Chaplain in May that year. An account published in the Freemasons' Quarterly Review in 1843 also records the appointment in 1775, describing it as a revival of the office.[2][4]
Dodd delivered an oration at the dedication of Freemasons' Hall in London on 23 May 1776. The printed address survives: the Folger Shakespeare Library holds a copy of the 1776 edition, published in London for the Society. Its imprint stated that the profits would go to the Hall fund.[5]
Forgery and execution
In 1777 Dodd forged a bond for £4,200 in the name of his former pupil, the Earl of Chesterfield. The amount and the nature of the charge appear in the title of a contemporary account of his Old Bailey trial, catalogued by the Wellcome Collection.[1][6]
He was convicted, and the jury recommended mercy. Johnson helped the campaign to save him, but the appeals failed and Dodd was hanged on 27 June. The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon's chronology records his expulsion from Freemasonry on 7 April 1777, before the execution.[1][3][2][4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Bedfordshire Archives, “Rev William Dodd”.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, “Rev. William Dodd”, Masonic appointments and membership chronology.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 “Dodd, William”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, eleventh edition (1911).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Freemasons' Quarterly Review, 30 June 1843 issue, historical chronology, PDF page 34, entries for 1 May 1775 and 7 April 1777.
- ↑ Folger Shakespeare Library, catalogue record for An oration: delivered at the dedication of Free-Masons' Hall ... May 23, 1776, ESTC T105332.
- ↑ Wellcome Collection, catalogue record for A full and circumstantial account of the trial of the Rev. Doctor Dodd (London: Richardson and Urquhart, 1777).
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