John Lodge (1692–1774[1]) was an English archivist and historian, best known for his workThe Peerage of Ireland, a complete genealogical history ofIrish peers.
Lodge was born into a farming family inBolton-le-Sands,Lancashire, as the son of ahusbandman-farmer, Edmund Lodge. He was educated at a school inClapham,Yorkshire, under Mr. Ashe, and was admitted sub-sizar ofSt John's College, Cambridge on 26 June 1716. He graduated B.A. in 1719; was ordained adeacon atLincoln in 1720 and as a priest atEly in 1721; then became a schoolteacher atMarch,Cambridgeshire in 1725, and was awarded his M.A. in 1730.[2] He went on to settle inAbbey Street,Dublin. In 1744, he published aReport of the Trial in Ejectment of Campbell Craig, from his own shorthand notes. In 1751 he was appointed deputy-keeper of the records in Bermingham Tower ofDublin Castle; in 1759 he became deputy-clerk and keeper of the rolls, and was subsequently deputy-registrar of the court of prerogative. He died atBath, Somerset, on 22 February 1774.
He married, first, Miss Hamilton, who claimed kinship with the Abercorn family; and, secondly, Edwarda Galland. His son, William Lodge LL.D. (1742–1813), the only survivor of his nine children, became in 1790 chancellor ofArmagh Cathedral, and was rector ofDerrynoose and rector ofKilmore in the same diocese. Some of John Lodge's books, with marginal notes and corrections, came into the Armagh Library, which about 1867 acquired other John Lodge papers by purchase from a great-grandson.
Lodge's chief work,The Peerage of Ireland, comprises four volumes, and was published in 1754. His own interleaved copy, with numerous manuscript notes, is now in theBritish Library (Add MSS 23703-23708). A second edition, revised and enlarged to seven volumes byMervyn Archdall, was published in 1789.
In 1770 Lodge published anonymouslyThe Usage of Holding Parliaments and Preparing and Passing Bills of Supply in Ireland, stated from record, and in 1772, also without his name, a selection of state papers and historical tracts illustrating the political systems of the chief governors and government of Ireland during the reigns of Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, which he calledDesiderata curiosa Hibernica.
His collection of record indexes were deposited in 1783 in the office of the civil department of the chief secretary to the lord-lieutenant at Dublin in return for annuities of £100 a year to his widow and £200 a year to his son. These indexes were in constant request byRowley Lascelles when engaged on hisLiber Munerum Hiberniæ. At the sale of Sir William Betham's library a transcript of a portion of them fetched £155.
Lodge's other manuscripts in the British Library are:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Lodge, John".Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
