Michael Dodson (1732–1799) was an English lawyer and writer on religious subjects.

Life

The only son of Joseph Dodson, dissenting minister at

Marlborough, Wiltshire Marlborough ( , ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English Counties of England, county of Wiltshire on the A4 road (England), Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath, Somerset, Bath. Th ...

, he was born there in September 1732. He was educated at

Marlborough Grammar School Marlborough Royal Free Grammar School, previously known as Marlborough Grammar School and King Edward's School, Marlborough, was a grammar school in the town of Marlborough, in Wiltshire, England, founded in 1550. Originally for boys only, the sc ...

, and then, in accordance with the advice of Sir Michael Foster, justice of the

King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of commo ...

, was entered at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

31 August 1754. He practised for many years as a special pleader; and was finally

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 4 July 1783. In 1770 he had been appointed one of the commissioners of bankruptcy. This post he held until his death, at his house, Boswell Court, Carey Street on 13 November 1799. In 1778 Dodson married his cousin Elizabeth Hawkes, also of Marlborough.

Works

Dodson's legal writings were an edition with notes and references of Sir Michael Foster's '' Report of some Proceedings on the Commission for the Trial of Rebels in the year 1746 in the County of Surrey, and of other crown cases'' (3rd edition 1792). In 1795 Dodson wrote a ''Life of Sir Michael Foster''. This, originally intended for the new edition of the ''

Biographia Britannica ''Biographia Britannica'' was a multi-volume biographical compendium, "the most ambitious attempt in the latter half of the eighteenth century to document the lives of notable British men and women". The first edition, edited by William Oldys (169 ...

'', was published in 1811 with a preface by

John Disney John Disney may refer to: * John Disney (antiquarian) (1779–1857), English barrister * John Disney (ornithologist) (1919–2014), Australian ornithologist * John Disney (priest) (1677–1730), English clergyman * John Disney (Unitarian) John ...

. Dodson, a Unitarian, published ''A New Translation of Isaiah, with Notes Supplementary to those of Dr. Louth, late Bishop of London. By a Layman.'' This led to a controversy with Dr. Sturges, nephew of

Robert Lowth Robert Lowth ( ; 27 November 1710 – 3 November 1787) was a Bishop of the Church of England, Oxford Professor of Poetry and the author of one of the most influential textbooks of English grammar. Life Lowth was born in Hampshire, England, G ...

, who replied in ''Short Remarks'' (1791), and was in turn answered by Dodson in a ''Letter to the Rev. Dr. Sturges, Author of “Short Remarks,” on a New Translation of Isaiah.'' Dodson wrote some other theological tracts.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodson, Michael 1732 births 1799 deaths English lawyers English writers English Unitarians