The Bishop had four children, the eldest of whom, Elizabeth Anne, married Charles Lutwidge, of Holmrook, in Cumberland.  Two of the others died almost before they had attained manhood.  Charles, the eldest son, entered the army, and rose to the rank of captain in the 4th Dragoon Guards.  He met with a sad fate while serving his king and country in Ireland.  One of the Irish rebels who were supposed to have been concerned in the murder of Lord Kilwarden offered to give himself up to justice if Captain Dodgson would come alone and at night to take him.  Though he fully realised the risk, the brave captain decided to trust himself to the honour of this outlaw, as he felt that no chance should be missed of effecting so important a capture.  Having first written a letter of farewell to his wife, he set out on the night of December 16, 1803, accompanied by a few troopers, for the meeting-place—­an old hut that stood a mile or so from Phillipstown, in King’s County.  In accordance with the terms of the agreement, he left his men a few hundred yards from the hut to await his return, and advanced alone through the night.  A cowardly shot from one of the windows of the cottage ended his noble life, and alarmed the troopers, who, coming up in haste, were confronted with the dead body of their leader.  The story is told that on the same night his wife heard two shots fired, and made inquiry about it, but could find out nothing.  Shortly afterwards the news came that her husband had been killed just at that time.

Captain Dodgson left two sons behind him—­Hassard, who, after a brilliant career as a special pleader, became a Master of the Court of Common Pleas, and Charles, the father of the subject of this Memoir.

Charles, who was the elder of the two, was born in the year 1800, at Hamilton, in Lanarkshire.  He adopted the clerical profession, in which he rose to high honours.  He was a distinguished scholar, and took a double first at Christ Church, Oxford.  Although in after life mathematics were his favourite pursuit, yet the fact that he translated Tertullian for the “Library of the Fathers” is sufficient evidence that he made good use of his classical education.  In the controversy about Baptismal Regeneration he took a prominent part, siding on the question with the Tractarians, though his views on some other points of Church doctrine were less advanced than those of the leaders of the Oxford movement.  He was a man of deep piety and of a somewhat reserved and grave disposition, which, however, was tempered by the most generous charity, so that he was universally loved by the poor.  In moments of relaxation his wit and humour were the delight of his clerical friends, for he had the rare power of telling anecdotes effectively.  His reverence for sacred things was so great that he was never known to relate a story which included a jest upon words from the Bible.