William Bodkin (judge)

Bodkin was the son of Peter Bodkin from Galway and his wife Sarah.[1] His father's family had long connections with County Galway.[3]

He was educated at the Islington Academy and called to the bar in 1826 at Gray's Inn.[1]

Bodkin initially practised on the Home Circuit, taking mostly criminal cases at the Middlesex, Westminster and Kent Sessions, and in the Central Criminal Court in the Old Bailey.[3] was appointed as a recorder of Dover in 1834.[1]

He was elected at the 1841 general election as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Rochester in Kent,[4] winning the seat by a margin of only two votes over the Liberal Party candidate Viscount Melgund.[3] Bodkin was defeated at the 1847 general election[5] as a result of his support for the free trade measures introduced by Sir Robert Peel.[1] He did not stand at the 1852 general election,[5] but unsuccessfully contested the borough at a by-election in February 1856.[5]

He was knighted in 1867.[6] He later became a Justice of the Peace (J.P) in Middlesex, and a Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex,[1] and judge of the Court of Sessions in Middlesex.[1]

He was an active member of the Society of Arts, becoming its vice-president.[1][3] He wrote several pamphlets on the English Poor Laws.[1][3]

Bodkin died aged 82 on 26 March 1874,[2] after a long and painful illness.[3] He was buried in the family grave at Highgate Cemetery[7]

Bodkin lived at West Hill in Highgate, North London.[3]

He married twice, first in 1812[3] to Sara Sophia Poland,[1] who died in 1848, and then in 1865 to Sarah Constance Miles, the daughter of Joseph Johnson Miles, a J.P from Highgate.[1] He had one son and one daughter.[1] His son, William Henry Bodkin, succeeded him in several of his judging roles, and was the father of Sir Archibald Bodkin.[8]

He is buried with his first wife.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Henry Bodkin