Rowland Hodge
Sir Rowland Frederick William Hodge, 1st Baronet was an English shipbuilder.
Hodge was born in Sunderland, the son of John Rowland Hodge and Emily. He entered the shipbuilding industry and later founded his own company, the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company, of which he was managing director for more than twenty years. He was also chairman of Eltringhams Ltd, another shipbuilder. On 30 September 1930, he married Vera Estelle Cathcart, Countess Cathcart, former wife of the 5th Earl Cathcart.
He was created a Baronet in the 1921 New Year Honours for his company's services during the First World War, despite a conviction in 1918 for "food hoarding". The Hodges were fined £600 and £100 costs for hoarding over a ton of food. The BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are? broadcast on 24 September 2008, in which model Jodie Kidd traced her ancestors, suggested that he may have bought his honour from David Lloyd George, part of the scandal that led to the Honours Act 1925.
The programme reported that the archives of Parliament contain letters to Lloyd George, from Winston Churchill complaining of having been offered a bribe of £5,000, and from King George V complaining of the honour having been granted.Footnotes
