William Dodd (clergyman) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

William Dodd was an English Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

clergyman and a man of letters. He lived extravagantly, and was nicknamed the "Macaroni

Macaroni (fashion)

A macaroni in mid-18th century England, was a fashionable fellow who dressed and even spoke in an outlandishly affected and epicene manner. The term pejoratively referred to a man who "exceeded the ordinary bounds of fashion" in terms of clothes, fastidious eating and gambling...

Parson

In the pre-Reformation church, a parson was the priest of an independent parish church, that is, a parish church not under the control of a larger ecclesiastical or monastic organization...

". He dabbled in forgery in an effort to clear his debts, was caught, convicted, and, despite a public campaign for a Royal pardon, became the last person to be hanged at Tyburn for forgery.

Early life

Dodd was born in Bourne

Bourne, Lincolnshire

Bourne is a market town and civil parish on the western edge of the Fens, in the District of South Kesteven in southern Lincolnshire, England.-The town:...

in Lincolnshire, the son of the local vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

. He attended Clare Hall in the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

from 1745 to 1750, where he achieved academic success and graduated as a wrangler. He then moved to London, where his spendthrift habits soon left him in debt. He married impulsively on 15 April 1751, to Mary Perkins, daughter of a domestic servant, leaving his finances in an even more precarious position.

Priesthood

At the urging of his concerned father, he decided to take holy orders

Holy Orders

The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....

, and was ordained a deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

in 1751 and a priest in 1753, serving as a curate

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

in a church in West Ham

West Ham

West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...

, then as a preacher at St James Garlickhythe

St James Garlickhythe

St. James Garlickhythe is a Church of England parish church in Vintry ward of the City of London, nicknamed ‘Wren’s lantern’ owing to its profusion of windows. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher...

, and then at St Olave Hart Street

St Olave Hart Street

St Olave Hart Street is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane near Fenchurch Street railway station....

. He became a popular and fashionable preacher, and was appointed as a chaplain in ordinary to the King in 1763. He became a prebend in Brecon

Brecon

Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...

, and was a tutor to Philip Stanhope

Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield

Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield KG, PC, FRS, FSA , known as Philip Stanhope until 1773, was a British politician and diplomat...

, later 5th Earl of Chesterfield

Earl of Chesterfield

Earls of Chesterfield, in the County of Derby, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Philip Stanhope, 1st Baron Stanhope. He had already been created Baron Stanhope, of Shelford in the County of Nottingham, in 1616, also in the Peerage of England. Stanhope's youngest son...

. He became chaplain to the King, and became a Doctor of Laws at Cambridge University in 1766. After he won £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

1,000 in a lottery

Lottery

A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...

, he became involved in schemes to build the Charlotte Chapel in Pimlico

Pimlico

Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....

, and bought a share of the Charlotte Chapel in Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury

-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

. Despite his profession, he continued his extravagant lifestyle, and became known as the "maccaroni parson". In 1772, he became rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

of Hockliffe

Hockliffe

Hockliffe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire on the crossroads of the A5 road which lies upon the course of the roman road known as Watling Street and the A4012 road.It is about four miles east of Leighton Buzzard...

, in Bedfordshire, and vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

of Chalgrove

Chalgrove

Chalgrove is a village and civil parish of some . It is in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Rofford and the former parish of Warpsgrove with which it merged in 1932....

Bribery

In 1774, in an attempt to rectify his depleted finances, he attempted to obtain the lucrative position of rector of St George's, Hanover Square. He wrote a letter to Lady Apsley, wife of the Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

, offering her £3,000 to secure the position. The letter was traced back to Dodd, and he was dismissed from his existing posts. He became an object of public ridicule, and was taunted as Dr Simony

Simony

Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

in a play by Samuel Foote

Samuel Foote

Samuel Foote was a British dramatist, actor and theatre manager from Cornwall.-Early life:Born into a well-to-do family, Foote was baptized in Truro, Cornwall on 27 January 1720. His father, John Foote, held several public positions, including mayor of Truro, Member of Parliament representing...

in the Haymarket Theatre

Haymarket Theatre

The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...

. He spent two years abroad, in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

and France, while the scandal subsided. He returned to England in 1776. In The Luck of Barry Lyndon

The Luck of Barry Lyndon

The Luck of Barry Lyndon is a picaresque novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in serial form in 1844, about a member of the Irish gentry trying to become a member of the English aristocracy...

Thackeray

Thackeray is the name of:*William Makepeace Thackeray, a novelist*Bal Thackeray, an Indian politician*Edward Talbot Thackeray, a recipient of the Victoria Cross*A David Thackeray, a South African astronomer...

has his protagonist refer to meeting 'Dr Simony' in Soho and to a friendship with Foote.

Forgery and execution

In February 1777, he forged a bond for £4,200 in the name of his former pupil, the Earl of Chesterfield, to clear his debts. A banker accepted the bond in good faith, and lent him money on the strength of it. Later the banker noticed a small blot in the text and had the document re-written. When the clean copy was presented to the Earl to sign, in order to replace the old one, the forgery was discovered. Dodd immediately confessed, and begged time to make amends. He was, however, imprisoned in the Wood Street Compter pending trial. He was convicted, and sentenced to death (see the full record of the trial under External References below.) Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...

wrote several papers in his defence, and some 23,000 people signed a 37-page petition seeking a pardon. Nevertheless, Dodd was publicly hanged at Tyburn

Tyburn, London

Tyburn was a village in the county of Middlesex close to the current location of Marble Arch in present-day London. It took its name from the Tyburn or Teo Bourne 'boundary stream', a tributary of the River Thames which is now completely covered over between its source and its outfall into the...

on 27 June 1777.

Published works

He wrote several published works, including poems, a novel, and theological tracts. His most successful work was The Beauties of Shakespeare (1752). He also wrote a Commentary on the Bible (1765–1770), and composed the blank verse

Blank verse

Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...

Thoughts in Prison while in Newgate Prison

Newgate Prison

Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...

between his conviction and execution.

"It concentrates his mind wonderfully"

The sermon "The Convict's Address to his unhappy Brethren" was largely written by Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

to be used as Dodd's own. When one of Johnson's friends doubted the authorship, Johnson, in order to protect Dodd, made his famous remark "Depend upon it Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully". James Boswell

James Boswell

James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....

gives Johnson's explanation of the circumstances in his Life of Samuel Johnson:

Johnson disapproved of Dr. Dodd's leaving the world persuaded that The

Convict's Address to his unhappy Brethren was of his own writing. 'But, Sir, you contributed to the deception; for when Mr. Seward expressed a

doubt to you that it was not Dodd's own, because it had a great deal more force

of mind in it than any thing known to be his, you answered,--"Why should you

think so? Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a

fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."' JOHNSON. Sir, as Dodd got

it from me to pass as his own, while that could do him any good, there was an

IMPLIED PROMISE that I should not own it. To own it, therefore, would have been

telling a lie, with the addition of breach of promise, which was worse than

simply telling a lie to make it be believed it was Dodd's. Besides, Sir, I did

not DIRECTLY tell a lie: I left the matter uncertain. Perhaps I thought that

Seward would not believe it the less to be mine for what I said; but I would

not put it in his power to say I had owned it.'

External references

Full record of Dodd's trial at the Old Bailey Online
Dr William Dodd from The Complete Newgate Calendar, Volume IV
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
Dr William Dodd from the Newgate Calendar
The infamous Dr William Dodd
Dr. Dodd, the publisher