Family and Education

b. c.1659, 1st s. of John Hody of Northover by 2nd w. Susan, da. and coh. of Hugh Hody of Brixham, Devon. educ. Wadham, Oxf. matric. 19 July 1677, aged 18. m. 1s. d.v.p. 1da. suc. fa. 1702.1

Offices Held

Maj. of militia ft. Som. by 1679-at least 1697, commr. for assessment 1690-at least 1702.2

Biography

Hody’s family originated in Dorset, providing an MP for Shaftesbury in 1421 and sitting repeatedly for Somerset under the Lancastrians. But the family declined rapidly in Tudor times and none had entered Parliament since the obscure William Hody^† in 1589. Hody’s mother was descended from a branch which had moved to Devon under Henry VI, while his father’s ancestors had migrated to Crewkerne early in the 16th century. This branch was of so little consequence, however, that his father, a Royalist in the first Civil War, was never sequestrated, and compounded in 1650 for a mere £7. In the same year, however, he acquired North-over, just outside Ilchester, through his first wife, the Raymond heiress, but he never became a j.p. Hody was returned as John Hody junior for Ilchester as a moderate court supporter in 1681, probably as a stop-gap for the Phelips interest, but left no trace on the records of the Oxford Parliament. He joined William of Orange in 1688, but never stood again, though he survived into the reign of George II. He was buried at Northover on 6 Aug. 1729, the last of his family.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Irene Cassidy

Notes

• 1. Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 233; VCH Som. iii. 226.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1679-80, p. 62; Eg. 1626, f. 39.
• 3. Vis. Devon, ed. Vivian, 491; Cal. Comm. Comp. 2647; VCH Som. iii. 226; E. Green, Wm. III in Som. 59; information from Dr R. W. Dunning.