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WILLIAM DODD (1729-1977)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 368 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM See also:DODD (1729-1977)  , See also:English divine, was See also:born at See also:Bourne in See also:Lincolnshire in May 1729 . He was admitted a See also:sizar of See also:Clare See also:Hall, See also:Cambridge, in 1745, and took the degree of B.A. in 1750, being fifteenth wrangler . On leaving the university he married a See also:young woman of a more than questionable reputation, whose extravagant habits helped to ruin him . In 1751 he was ordained See also:deacon, and in 1753 See also:priest, and he soon became a popular and celebrated preacher . His first preferment was the lectureship of See also:West-See also:Ham and See also:Bow . In 1754 he was also chosen lecturer of St Olave's, See also:Hart See also:Street; and in 1757 he took the degree of M.A. at Cambridge, subsequently becoming LL.D . He was a strenuous supporter of the Magdalen See also:hospital, founded in 1758, and soon afterwards became preacher at the See also:chapel of that charity . In 1763 he obtained a prebend at See also:Brecon, and in the same See also:year he was appointed one of the See also:king's chaplains,—soon'after which the See also:education of See also:Philip See also:Stanhope, afterwards See also:earl of See also:Chesterfield, was committed to his care . In 1768 he ha d a fashionable See also:congregation and was held in high esteem, but indiscreet ambition led to his ruin . On the living of St See also:George's, See also:Hanover Square, becoming vacant in 1774, Mrs See also:Dodd wrote an See also:anonymous See also:letter to the wife of the See also:lord See also:chancellor, offering three thousand guineas if, by her assistance, Dodd were promoted to the See also:benefice . This letter having been traced, a complaint was immediately made to the king, and Dodd was dismissed from his See also:office as See also:chaplain . After residing for some See also:time at See also:Geneva and See also:Paris, he returned to •See also:England in 1776 .

He still continued to exercise his clerical functions, but his extravagant habits soon involved him in difficulties . To meet his creditors he forged a See also:

bond on his former See also:pupil Lord Chesterfield for £4200, and actually received the See also:money . He was detected, committed to See also:prison, tried at the Old See also:Bailey, found guilty, and sentenced to See also:death; and, in spite of numerous applications for See also:mercy, he was executed at See also:Tyburn on the 27th of See also:June 1777 . See also:Samuel See also:Johnson was very zealous in See also:pleading for a See also:pardon, and a See also:petition from the See also:city of See also:London received 23,000 signatures . Dr Dodd was a voluminous writer and possessed considerable abilities, with but little See also:judgment and much vanity . He wrote one or two comedies, and his Beauties of See also:Shakespeare, published in 1752, was See also:long a well-known See also:work; while his Thoughts in Prison, a poem in See also:blank See also:verse, written between his conviction and See also:execution, naturally attracted much See also:attention . He published a large number of sermons and other theological See also:works, including a Commentary on the See also:Bible (1765-1770) . A See also:list of his fifty-five writings and an See also:account of the writer is included in the Thoughts in Prison . See also P . See also:Fitzgerald, A . Famous See also:Forgery (1865) .

End of Article: WILLIAM DODD (1729-1977)
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