Sir Rowland Frederick William Hodge, 1st Baronet (15 September 1859 – 21 September 1950) was anEnglishshipbuilder.

Hodge was born on 15 September 1859 inSunderland, the son of Emily (née Davis) Hodge and John Rowland Hodge ofNewcastle upon Tyne. He was educated atHoughton-le-Spring.^[1]

He entered the shipbuilding industry and later founded his own company, theNorthumberland Shipbuilding Company, of which he wasmanaging director for more than twenty years. He was also chairman of Eltringhams Ltd, another shipbuilder, and a director of theCanning Town Glass Works in London.^[1]

He was created abaronet in the 1921 New Year Honours for his company's services during theFirst World War,^[2][3] despite a conviction in 1918 for "food hoarding". The Hodges were fined £600 and £100 costs for hoarding over a ton of food.^[4]

On 28 March 1895, Hodge was married to Mabel Thorpe, a daughter of William Edward Thorpe. Before her death in 1923, they were the parents of two sons and two daughters, including:^[5]

• Margaret Viola Hodge (b. 1908), who married Jorge Yvan Lage, son of Jorge Lage, in 1927. She married Sir Robert Spencer Isaacson in 1938.^[5]
• Vivien Rosemary Hodge (b. 1911), who marriedSt. John Legh Clowes, son of Capt. Phillip Cecil Clowes, in 1930. They divorced and she married Hugh Gordon Murton-Neale in 1941.^[5]
• Sir John Rowland, 2nd Baronet (1913–1995), who married Peggy Ann Kent, daughter of Sidney Raymond Kent, in 1936.^[6] They divorced in 1939 and he married Joan Wilson, daughter of Sydney Foster Wilson, in 1939. They divorced in 1961 and he married Jeanne Wood Anderson Buchanan, daughter of Commander W. E. Buchanan, in 1962. The divorced in 1967 and he married Vivienne Knightley, daughter of Alfred Knightley, in 1967.^[5]
• Peter Rowland Hodge (1915–1982), who married Mia Macklin, daughter ofSir Noel Macklin, in 1940.^[7] They divorced in 1945 and he married Margaret Norma Plow, daughter of Harold Plow, in 1951.^[5]

On 30 September 1930, seventy-one year old Sir Rowland was married toVera Estelle Cathcart, Countess Cathcart, former wife of theGeorge Cathcart, 5th Earl Cathcart, at the Princess Row Register Office in London.^[8] The wedding ceremony was followed by a reception atGrosvenor House and a wedding trip toParis andMonte Carlo.^[8][9] In November 1934, Lady Hodge asked for a divorce,^[10] but a court and jury refused to grant Vera a divorce from Sir Rowland on the grounds of misconduct.^[1][11]

Sir Rowland died at his home inChurt,Surrey on 23 September 1950.^[12][1]

Through his eldest son,^[5] he was a grandfather ofSir Andrew Rowland Hodge, 3rd Baronet (b. 1968), Wendy Madeleine Hodge (second wife ofJohn Kidd, and mother ofJemma Wellesley, Countess of Mornington, supermodelJodie Kidd and polo player Jack Kidd),Vicki Hodge (one-time girlfriend of bothJohn Bindon andPrince Andrew, Duke of York), and modelSally Joan Hodge (mother ofAnthony Joseph Hodge Clavien andAlana Nicole Hodge Sindelar).^[13][5]

TheBBC programmeWho Do You Think You Are? broadcast on 24 September 2008, in which modelJodie Kidd traced her ancestors (Hodge was her great-grandfather), suggested that he may have bought his honour fromDavid Lloyd George, part of the scandal that led to theHonours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.^[4]

The programme reported that the archives of Parliament contain letters to Lloyd George, fromWinston Churchill complaining of having been offered a bribe of £5,000, and fromKing George V complaining of the honour having been granted.^[4]

• Hodge baronets

• Picture of Visit of George V to Northumberland Shipbuilding Company

• 1859 births
• 1950 deaths
• People from Newcastle upon Tyne
• English businesspeople
• English shipbuilders
• Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom

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