Michael Hodgetts
Michael William Hodgetts KSG (29 March 1936 – 12 December 2022) was an English Catholic historian who became a leading expert on priest holes and on Harvington Hall.
Early life[edit]
Hodgetts was born in Birmingham on 29 March 1936, and was raised a Catholic. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and then studied classics at Worcester College, Oxford, as well as studying for three years as a seminarian at the Venerable English College, Rome, before becoming a teacher at St Thomas More Catholic School, Willenhall.[1]
Career[edit]
In the 1970s and 1980s, he sat on the International Commission on English in the Liturgy,[2] alongside his work as a teacher, and his translation of the hymn Pange lingua is now used in the English-language Catholic liturgy for Good Friday.[1]
In 1984, he was appointed to the management committee of Harvington Hall, a former manor house and centre of Recusancy that had been given to the Archdiocese of Birmingham in 1923.[2] He edited the volumes series of the Catholic Record Society and the society's journal, Recusant History (now British Catholic History).[1] In 1989 he retired from school-teaching and joined the staff of Maryvale Institute, a Catholic college of further and higher education.[2]
Personal life[edit]
He married Barbara in 1969. They had four children.[3]
Hodgetts died on 12 December 2022, at the age of 86.[2][3]
Works[edit]
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1989 | Secret Hiding Places |
| 1990 | Revising the Order of Christian Funerals in Peter C. Finn & James M. Schellman edd., Shaping English Liturgy: Studies in Honor of Archbishop Denis Hurley |
| 1994 | Recusant Liturgical Music in Christopher Francis & Martin Lynch edd., A Voice for All Time |
| 1996 | History of Blackmore Park 1596-1846-1996 |
| 1999 | (with V Alan McCleland) edd., From Without The Flaminian Gate: 150 years of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales 1850-2000 |
| 1999 | The Iron Form: Catholics and Philosophy between the Councils in McCleland & Hodgetts edd., From Without The Flaminian Gate: 150 years of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales 1850-2000 |
| 1999 | The Godly Garret, 1560-1660’, in Marie B. Rowlands ed., English Catholics of Parish and Town, 1558-1778 |
| 2000 | History of St Joseph's Upton upon Severn 1850-2000 |
| 2002 | History of Erdington Abbey |
| 2002 | History of St Joseph's Nechells |
| 2004 | Nicholas Owen in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
| 2006 | Introduction to John Gerard: The Autobiography of an Elizabethan, tr Caraman, 2nd edition |
| 2008 | Art and Thought in J. J. Scarisbrick ed., History of the Diocese of Birmingham, 1850-2000 |
| 2009 | Coughton and the Powder Plot in Peter Marshall & Geoffrey Scott, edd. The Catholic Gentry in English Society: The Throckmortons of Coughton from Reformation to Emancipation |
| 2011 | (with Aileen M. Hodgson), Little Malvern Letters—I: 1482-1737 |
| 2024 | Secret Hiding Places 2nd Edn, ed Paul Hodgetts |
| 2024 | (with Aileen M. Hodgson) Little Malvern Letters—II: 1737-1870 |
| Date | Journal | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The Venerabile | Priests' Hiding Holes |
| 1959 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society New Series | Adam of Harvington |
| 1960 | The Venerabile | Blessed John Wall - I |
| 1960 | The Venerabile | Blessed John Wall - II |
| 1962 | Staffordshire Catholic History | Staffordshire Priest Holes |
| 1962 | The Month | Nicholas Owen In East Anglia |
| 1962 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society New Series | The Priest-Holes at Harvington Hall |
| 1963 | Worcestershire Recusant | John Wall’s Execution: An Eyewitness |
| 1963 | Worcestershire Recusant | The Recusant History of a County |
| 1964 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society New Series | The Priest-Holes at Hindlip Old Hall |
| 1965 | Recusant History | John Wall at Harvington? |
| 1965 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society Third Series | Elizabethan Recusancy in Worcestershire I |
| 1965 | Worcestershire Recusant | A Certificate of Warwickshire Recusants 1592 I |
| 1965 | Worcestershire Recusant | A Certificate of Warwickshire Recusants 1592 II |
| 1966 | Worcestershire Recusant | The Priest Holes at Harvington: Some Further Notes |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | John Wall’s Juramentum |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusant Houses of Warwickshire and Worcestershire I |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusant Houses of Warwickshire and Worcestershire II |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | Two Harvington Letters |
| 1968 | Staffordshire Catholic History | The Royal Hiding Places at Boscobel and Moseley |
| 1968 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusant Houses of Warwickshire and Worcestershire III |
| 1970 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society Third Series | Elizabethan Recusancy in Worcestershire II |
| 1970 | Worcestershire Recusant | Priests At Harvington 1660-1690 |
| 1972 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes I : Dating and Chronology |
| 1973 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes II : Ufton, Mapledurham and Compton Wynyates |
| 1973 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes III : East Anglia, Baddesley Clinton and Hindlip |
| 1973 | Worcestershire Recusant | Long Live King James: A Satirical Poem |
| 1974 | Worcestershire Recusant | Jesuits at Baddesley Clinton October 1591 |
| 1975 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes IV : Harvington Hall |
| 1975 | Worcestershire Recusant | Register of Thomas Butler of Much Wenlock I |
| 1976 | Music and Liturgy | Translating Liturgical Texts |
| 1976 | Recusant History | Brough Hall Caterrick and Thorpe Hall Norwich: A note |
| 1976 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes V : The North |
| 1976 | The Clergy Review | Recusant Liturgical Music |
| 1976 | Worcestershire Recusant | Register of Thomas Butler of Much Wenlock II |
| 1977 | Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland Newsletter | The English Church without Bishops: 1559-1623 |
| 1977 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes VI : The Escape of Charles II |
| 1977 | The Clergy Review | The English Tradition and Liturgical Reform |
| 1977 | Worcestershire Recusant | Register of Thomas Butler of Much Wenlock III |
| 1978 | Worcestershire Recusant | Charles II at Bromsgrove? |
| 1980 | Recusant History | Tanner on Nicholas Owen: A Note |
| 1980 | Worcestershire Recusant | Seventeenth Century Priests at Harvington |
| 1981 | Worcestershire Recusant | An Inventory of Harvington Hall 1826 |
| 1981 | Worcestershire Recusant | Harvington Hall 1929-1979: A Study In Local Historiography |
| 1982 | Recusant History | A Topographical Index of Hiding Places |
| 1982 | Worcestershire Recusant | Paradisus Redivivus? |
| 1982 | Worcestershire Recusant | Park Hall, Castle Bromwich |
| 1983 | Worship | Sense and Sound in Liturgical Translation |
| 1984 | ECA Journal | Priest-Holes and Recusancy |
| 1985 | Eighteenth-Century Life (Williamsburg, VA) | Secret Hiding Places: A Narrative of Tradition and Truth from the Restoration to the Regency |
| 1985 | Liturgy | Rejoicing in Psalms? |
| 1985 | Worcestershire Recusant | An Inventory of Harvington Hall 1797 |
| 1986 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusants in the Midlands |
| 1986 | Worcestershire Recusant | Shropshire Priests in 1605 |
| 1989 | Recusant History | Loca Secretiora in 1581 |
| 1991 | Midlands Catholic History | De Angelis on the Barrel-Organ, 1819 |
| 1991 | Midlands Catholic History | Recusant Contributors to the Worcester Cathedral Organ 1613 |
| 1992 | Midlands Catholic History | Mrs Packington and a Shakespearian Emblem |
| 1993 | Music and Liturgy | De Angelis on the Barrel-Organ, 1819 |
| 1994 | Midlands Catholic History | ‘Wharton’s Ghost’ 1785 |
| 1994 | Midlands Catholic History | Thomas Belson’s Complaint |
| 1994 | Recusant History | The Yates of Harvington 1631-1696 |
| 1995 | Liturgy | Revising the Missal: Introit and Communion Antiphons |
| 1995 | Midlands Catholic History | Origins of Recusancy: The Pakingtons 1530-80 |
| 1998 | Recusant History | A Topographical Index of Hiding Places II |
| 1999 | Recusant History | The Owens of Oxford |
| 2000 | Midlands Catholic History | Campion in Staffordshire and Derbyshire 1581 |
| 2002 | Recusant History | The Throckmortons of Harvington 1696-1923 |
| 2003 | Midlands Catholic History | The Holtes of Aston Hall Birmingham |
| 2004 | Midlands Catholic History | Rushock Court 1595 |
| 2005 | Midlands Catholic History | The Chimney Hide at Mapledurham |
| 2005 | Recusant History | A Topographical Index of Hiding Places III |
| 2006 | Midlands Catholic History | The Gunpowder Plot in Warwickshire and Worcestershire |
| 2006 | Recusant History | Mille Maeandris Nicholas Owen 1606-2006 |
| 2006 | Recusant History | The 1958 Conference in Context |
| 2007 | Music and Liturgy | Recusant Liturgy 1559-1791 |
| 2008 | Midlands Catholic History | Itinerant Priests in Oxfordshire 1592 |
| 2009 | Midlands Catholic History | Worcester Conformity certificates 1614-27 |
| 2009 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Papistry and Brewing: The Malt House at Harvington |
| 2010 | Midlands Catholic History | Recusant Liturgy 1559-1791 |
| 2010 | Recusant History | Campion in the Thames Valley 1580 |
| 2011 | Midlands Catholic History | Greys Court, Oxfordshire |
| 2012 | Midlands Catholic History | Barsford Bridge 1584 |
| 2012 | Midlands Catholic History | Thomas Strange and the Powder Plot |
| 2012 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Pugin & Newman |
| 2013 | Midlands Catholic History | Francis Martyn (1782-1838) and St Mary’s The Mount |
| 2014 | Midlands Catholic History | Midland Recusant Altars |
| 2014 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | ‘Firmness to this Glass’: The Stonework at Harvington |
| 2015 | Midlands Catholic History | Lyford Grange 1581-1681 |
| 2015 | Midlands Catholic History | The Jesuits in Sutton Coldfield: A Note |
| 2016 | Midlands Catholic History | Hides and Hinges: Boscobel and Harvington |
| 2016 | Music and Liturgy | Recusant Hymnody 1559-1800 |
| 2016 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Franciscans in Birmingham, 1656-1716 |
| 2017 | Midlands Catholic History | The Simeons of Britwell House, Oxfordshire, and Aston-By-Stone, Staffordshire |
| 2018 | Midlands Catholic History | Charles II in Warwickshire 10 September 1651 |
| 2019 | Midlands Catholic History | Henry Garnet’s Pilgrimage to Holywell, 1605 |
| 2019 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Birmingham Catholics, 1560-1660 |
| 2020 | Midlands Catholic History | The Layout of Elizabethan Recusant Houses |
| 2020 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | ‘Lead, Kindly Light’: Newman’s Hymns |
| 2021 | Midlands Catholic History | Rycote, Thame Park and Waterperry 1530-1800 |
| 2021 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Georgian Chapels |
| 2022 | Midlands Catholic History | Lady Yate's Fund for Harvington |
| 2022 | Midlands Catholic History | The Elizabethan Catholic Underground |
| 2022 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Benedictines in Worcestershire and Warwickshire, 1600-1800 |
| 2022 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | The Jesuit Residence of St George, 1580-1780 |
| 2023 | Midlands Catholic History | Dodd and his History |
| 2024 | Midlands Catholic History | Nicholas Owen: Jesuit Lay Brother? |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1987 | St Chad's Cathedral |
| 1990 | Midlands Catholic Buildings |
| 1991 | Harvington Hall guidebook (repub.1998 and 2011) |
| 2002 | Life at Harvington |
| 2017 | Midland Martyrs |
| Title |
|---|
| Eighteenth Century Chapels in the Archdiocese of Birmingham |
| Elizabethan Catholic Gentry: Portraits in Settings |
| Elizabethan Catholics in Leicestershire |
| Elizabethan Catholics in Lincolnshire |
| Elizabethan Recusancy at Eynsham |
| Grafton Manor, Badge Court and Purshall Hall |
| Hindlip House 1606 |
| Linen on Hedges |
| Recusant Houses of the Midlands and East Anglia |
| Robert Persons in the Welsh Marches 1580 |
| The Comptons of Compton Wynyates |
| The Fortescues of Cookhill |
| Tixhall Hall and Gatehouse |
| Words for Music Perhaps: The Mechanics of Texts for Hymns |
Awards[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "Michael Hodgetts, teacher and historian who studied the struggles of persecuted Catholics in the 16th century". The Daily Telegraph. 25 January 2023. (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d "Michael Hodgetts: distinguished recusant historian who oversaw the restoration of Harvington Hall". Catholic Herald. 26 December 2022.
- ^ a b "Michael Hodgetts, teacher and historian who studied the struggles of persecuted Catholics in the 16th century – obituary". The Telegraph. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023. (subscription required)
