align="left">Remembered as ‘a gentlemen, a scholar, and antiquarian’, John Hodgson, a ‘healthy-looking handsome man’ of middle height and with a ‘florid complexion’, was a direct descendant of William Hodgson, sheriff of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1474.1White ‘John Hodgson Hinde’, 229-31. On coming of age in 1827, he acquired the manor and 800 acre, coal-rich estate of Elswick on the outskirts of the city before moving in 1836 to Stelling Hall near Hexham, formerly the estate of Elizabeth Archer Hinde (whose relationship to Hodgson is unknown), having in compliance with her will taken the additional name of Hinde. At Cambridge, Hodgson’s ‘superfine black dress and white linen always told more of the student than the squire’ and he excelled in Latin, palaeography and ‘Border anecdotes’, although he did not graduate.2White ‘John Hodgson Hinde’, 239. Returned unopposed for Newcastle in July 1830, he divided against Wellington’s ministry on the civil list, 15 Nov. 1830, and gave his qualified support to Grey’s ministry. A frequent attender and contributor, he became a reliable supporter of reform.3HP Commons, 1820-32, v. 669-71.
After a bitter campaign in which his opposition to the ballot and his protectionist sympathies drew much criticism, Hodgson retained his seat at the 1832 general election. Although backing Grey’s administration over Irish legislation, he was not a consistent supporter of the ministry. A freeman of Newcastle, Hodgson spoke out in opposition to Lord John Russell’s bill to disenfranchise Liverpool freemen, 26 Feb. 1834, and his subsequent motion, 12 Mar. 1834, to instruct the select committee to retain the voting privileges of the freemen was defeated, 14-106.4Hansard, 26 Feb. 1834, vol 21, c. 857; 12 Mar. 1834, vol 22, c. 104. On 22 Apr. 1834, he divided against Althorp’s motion to use the land tax to fund church maintenance. Attacked over his vote against an inquiry into the pension list and his refusal to back the abolition of flogging in the navy, Hodgson, despite an ‘assiduous canvass’, was defeated at the 1835 general election.5Newcastle Courant, 10 Jan. 1835. His core Conservative support, however, remained, and in June 1835, a meeting in the Newcastle assembly rooms was held to honour his ‘honest, upright, and attentive conduct during three successive parliaments’.6Newcastle Courant, 13 June 1835.
Hodgson recaptured his seat at Newcastle at an 1836 by-election, triggered by the death of Sir Matthew White Ridley, and thereafter consistently opposed Melbourne’s second administration. Resuming his defence of freemen, he moved a clause, 15 Feb. 1837, to ensure hospitals for freemen were funded by corporations, which was defeated, and later criticised the ‘ministerial attempt to violate’ the Reform Act with its parliamentary electors bill.7Hansard, 3 July 1837, vol. 38, c. 1768. In 1840, he served as chair of the select committee on freemen of cities and boroughs, which reported that their rights of property and privilege should be maintained, with the exception of being exempt from tolls.8PP 1840 (461), xi. 2. Hodgson Hinde (as he was now known) successfully defended his seat after a bitter contest at the 1837 general election. As vice-chairman of the Newcastle and North Shields Railway, he moved for the appointment of a commission, 7 June 1838, to report on the best line for a railway from London to Edinburgh and Glasgow, but after the house divided 53-53, it was rejected by the speaker. Evidently still smarting from this defeat, he berated the government over its plans for railways in Ireland, 1 Mar. 1839, accusing ministers of caving into pressure from Daniel O’Connell, an accusation that prompted the latter to suggest he was labouring ‘under a most extraordinary delusion’.9Hansard, 1 Mar. 1839, vol. 45, cc. 1055, 1056, 1057, 1059. In March 1841 Hodgson Hinde opposed the ministry’s plans to extend the legislative power of poor law commissioners, arguing that such a move would be ‘irresponsible’. Attacking the Poor Law Amendment Act for ‘making pauperism a source of degradation to the poor’, he moved an amendment to restrict the legislative power of the commissioners, which was defeated 225-75.10Hansard, 26 Mar. 1841, vol. 57, cc. 624-7.
Returned unopposed at the 1841 general election, Hodgson Hinde directed his energies towards railway legislation, frequently intervening in debate, and consistently opposing the attempts of the Peel ministry to ensure the state could exercise purchasing power over future railways. In March 1844, he stated that parliament ‘ought not to give away its jurisdiction’ to the select committee on railways, which ought to make available its evidence, and in July the same year, he made two unsuccessful attempts to delay the reading of the railways bill.11Hansard, 4 Mar. 1844, vol. 73, c. 523; 8 Mar. 1873, vol. 73, c. 725; 8 July 1844, vol. 76, c. 475; 11 July, vol. 76, c. 683. Serving on the 1845 select committee on atmospheric railways, Hodgson Hinde frequently divided in the minority; his own proposal that atmospheric railways should not be used if was there was no certainty of large traffic was defeated 11-1.12PP 1845 (252), x. 178-83. He was appointed to two subsequent inquiries into railway bills.13PP 1845 (395), x. 88; Hansard, 26 Jan. 1846, vol. 83, c. 223.
As a general supporter of Peel’s ministry, Hodgson Hinde divided with the premier over the reinstatement of income tax, 13 Apr. 1842, against the abolition of church rates, 16 June 1842, in opposition to Russell’s motion for a select committee to investigate the state of Ireland, 23 Feb. 1844, and in support of the extension of the Maynooth grant, 18 Apr. 1845. However, he maintained his support for protection and voted against the repeal of the corn laws, 12 Feb. 1846. Rejecting Peel’s argument that the repeal would help the Irish in their plight against famine, Hodgson Hinde attacked the government for not having ‘that wisdom which was so essential to statesmen … knowing when to let well alone’.14Hansard, 12 Feb. 1846, vol. 83, cc. 828-32.
At the 1847 general election, Hodgson Hinde declined to defend his seat and retired from the Commons. It was later recalled that ‘he always preferred not to appear in the foreground, but would lend his able and cheerful assistance to the uttermost’.15White, ‘John Hodgson Hinde’, 231. Although not inactive in public life after leaving parliament, he chiefly devoted himself to antiquarian studies and published Pipe Rolls for Cumberland (1847), The Foundations of British History Explored (1852), an introductory volume to the History of Northumberland (1858), for which he had been responsible for a large portion of the research, and Simeon of Durham’s Works (1868). 16HP Commons, 1820-32, v, 672. He was also a regular contributor to the transactions of the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, of which he was vice-president. Hodgson Hinde died intestate and without issue at Stelling Hall in November 1869 and was buried in the family vault at Bywell St. Peter. Although there is no single collection of his papers, small selections of his correspondence are located in a number of collections at the Tyne and Wear Archives and the Northumberland record office.17Tyne and Wear Archives, C.NC66/159/7; Northumb. RO, Middleton (Belsay) MSS, ZMI/b15/xiii/13.