Sir William Hodgson (1857-1945)
A short biography by Christine Storey

The apartments opposite Poulton Library stand in the gardens of what was once the home of one of Poulton’s most famous men – Sir William Hodgson. He became the leader of Lancashire County Council and when he opened Poulton’s new school in 1932 it bore his name – now Hodgson High Technology College.
William Hodgson’s ancestors can be traced back to the late 18th century in Poulton and interestingly it was a quirk of fate which lead to William inheriting the Sycamores from his grandfather.
In the early 1800s the Hodgson family owned several properties in Poulton. Among them were a group of six cottages, a beer seller’s and a joiner’s shop in Bull Street – now the site of the bus bays – and two large houses in Sheaf Street – almost next to St Chad’s School. Another cluster of property included seven cottages and the smithy and shippon which stood on the site of the present railway station. Yet another group stretched from the corner of the Market Place to the Spread Eagle pub, close to the Queen’s Square Bookshop. As well as several fields on the outskirts of the town, of course they owned The Sycamores, with its gardens and shippon.
In the mid nineteenth century an earlier William Hodgson and his brother John had done well from their tanning business in Poulton and both had retired in their mid forties. Both had married, but their wives, who were themselves sisters – named Lewtas – had died young and by the late1840s the two widowed brothers were living at the Sycamores with William’s two daughters – Margaret and Jane. However in 1856 William’s daughter Margaret married Robert Bond at St Chad’s and the couple went to live in Preston where Robert was an assistant court bailiff. Their son William Bond was born in August 1857, but sadly both Robert and Margaret Bond died in 1860 and William, now aged three, was in the care of his grandfather William Hodgson in Poulton.
The elder William had no heirs apart from his one grandson William Bond, so they came to an arrangement – if the younger man would take his mother’s maiden name – Hodgson – as his own and drop the name Bond, thereby continuing the family line, he would inherit his grandfather’s property. So when his grandfather William Hodgson died in 1875 William Bond became William Hodgson.
William married Isabella Ellen Hammond in St Chad’s in 1880. She was the daughter of Thomas Hammond who ran a school for several decades in the buildings next to the Golden Ball in Ball Street, Poulton. A son of William and Isabella – William Hammond Hodgson – became a doctor in Blackpool and died in 1927. It would be interesting to know if any relatives of the Poulton Hodgson family still live in the area and have memories of The Sycamores.

Quick Facts
Contributed by Ian Upward
Birth
Born 29 August 1857 in Preston as William Hodgson Braithwaite Bond. He changed his name when his grandfather died in 1875.
Parents
Robert Bond (1817-1860) & Margaret Hodgson (1822-1860) who married 5 Feb 1856 at St Chad’s. Father died 27 Feb 1860 in Preston and mother was buried at St Chad’s on 23 Nov 1860, leaving William an orphan.
Early years
After the death of his father, William and his mother moved in with her father, William Hodgson of Poulton (1788-1875). His grandfather became sole guardian after the death of William’s mother, and young William became a boarder at Wesley College in Sheffield, now part of King Edward VII school. Young William was his grandfather’s sole heir when he died in 1875, inheriting an estate valued at just under £16,000 (approximately £2.3m in 2024 values).
Wife & children
He married Isabella Ellen Hammond (1857-1927) at St Chad’s on 6 Jul 1880. Their children were William Hammond Hodgson (1881-1927), a physician, Thomas Reginald Hammond (1883-1952), an analytical chemist, Margaret Hodgson (1886-1964), who married Rev. John Coakley in 1924 (Vicar of Arkholme near Carnforth), and Jane Hodgson, (1888-1959), who appears never to have married. 1927 was a sad year for him, losing his wife on 12th Feb, and his son, Doctor William H. Hodgson on 3rd Apr. As Sir William had no grandsons through his sons, the name of Hodgson disappeared with the death of his unmarried daughter Jane at her house named the Fields in 1959.
The Sycamores
The Sycamores, where he lived, was first described as such in the 1891 census, and he lived there until his death in 1945. In fact he lived on Blackpool Old Road (formerly Blackpool Road and originally Bull Street) from 1860 through to 1945.
Appointments, etc.
1881: Guardian for the Poor in the Fylde; 1901: elected as County Councillor; 1912: became an alderman; 1931: became vice chairman of County Council; 1935: received knighthood; 1937: became LCC chairman.
Declined invitation to stand for Fylde constituency because he wished to continue his LCC work.
Council interests
Vice chairman of Education Committee and chairman of Public Health and Housing Committee.
Death
He died on 27 Feb 1945, and his three surviving children were granted probate of an estate valued at £18,622.
FamilySearch
Link to FamilySearch record M8H7-SY8 (opens in new tab, their sign-in required).