Francis Hodgson

Francis Hodgson (16 November 1781 – 29 December 1852; also known as Frank Hodgson in correspondence) was a reforming Provost of Eton, educator, cleric, writer of verse, and friend of Byron. Life Hodgson was born on 16 November 1781, son of Rev. James Hodgson, Headmaster of Whitgift School, whose father James Hodgson had moved from Hawkshead, Cumbria, to be rector of Humber, Herefordshire. Francis and one of his half-sisters were the only two of his father's seven children to live beyond the age of 15. He was educated first at Whitgift School, before proceeding to Eton College as a King's Scholar, and then as a Scholar to King's College, Cambridge. In 1806 he was appointed assistant master at Eton, a post which he resigned after a year to become a resident tutor and Fellow at King's College, Cambridge. It was there that he met and formed a lifelong friendship with the poet Lord Byron, who was at that time an undergraduate at Trinity College. Their friendship is recorded in the many letters between them that have been published in biographies of Byron.