John Hodgson was the son of Robert Hodgson and his wife Isabella Hutton. He was baptised in Beaumont, Cumberland on the 4th February 1805.
He was at school in Appleby and was admitted to Jesus College, Cambridge on the 7th March 1825 and achieved a B.A. in 1829 and an M.A. in 1832.
He was ordained a deacon in Norwich on 27th September 1829 and a priest on 6th June 1830. He was curate at St. Anne's, Westminster for 8 years, leaving in November 1842, to become Rector of Palgrave, Suffolk. On the 28th August 1843 he was presented to the vicarage of Hoxne with Denham by Sir Edward Kerrison, Bart.. This living was valued at £450.
Whilst at Palgrave John married Helen Macleod, eldest daughter of the late Norman Macleod, Esq., of the Bengal Civil Service. They had 3 children, Robert, born 11th July 1844, baptised 11th August 1844, John Hutton, born 3rd September 1845, baptised 23rd October 1845 and Helen Mary, born 26th April 1849, baptised 27th May 1849.All were baptised in Hoxne.
On 17th October 1845 in Ipswich, before Sir A. B. Henniker, Bart., the Rev. John Hodgson qualified as a Magistrate.
On the 21st December 1863 John's wife Helen died, age 53 and was buried at Hoxne on the 28th December. On the 4th September 1866 John was married again in Hornsey to Lydia Gamlen, daughter of Robert Gamlen, Esq., of Hornsey. Lydia died in 1899, age 60, at Crondall.
John died at Hornsey, Middlesex on the 20th October 1868 and was buried at Hoxne on the 26th October, aged 63.
John's son, John Hutton Hodgson had died 8 months earlier, age 22, on 17th February 1868, at the Naval Hospital in Jamaica. He had been a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy on H.M.S. Favorite and had served on that ship since 7th October 1867. John Hutton had attended the Royal Naval College and passed his Naval Cadets' examination on 7th June 1859. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 21st January 1867. A stained-glass window was placed in the church at Hoxne on the right of the sanctuary in memory of John Hutton Hodgson. It was made by Heaton, Butler and Bayne in 1868. It pictures the figures of St Matthew, on the left and St. Mark on the right.
The inscription reads:
To the Glory of God and in memory of Lieut. John Hutton Hodgson R.N., of H.M.S. Favorite, who died at the Naval Hospital, Port Royal, Jamaica Feb. 17th 1868, aged 22 on 17th February 1868. This window is created by hos Brother Officers and Friends.
The window to the right of this is dedicated to his father, John Hodgson.
Robert, John's eldest son, later went on to become Archdeacon of Stafford and Canon of Lichfield Cathedral in 1907. He died in 1917, aged 72.