19 Facts About Thomas Hodson

Thomas Hodson was a Wesleyan Missionary, who served in India, in the Wesleyan Canarese Mission, at the Bangalore Petah and Gubbi.

Thomas Hodson helped in running the first Wesleyan Mission Canarese school in the erstwhile Mysore State.

Thomas Hodson helped in establishing the Wesleyan Canarese Chapel at Nagarthpete in the Bangalore Petah.

In 1864, Thomas Hodson wrote An Elementary Grammar of the Kannada, or Canarese Language, a treatise on the grammar of the Kannada language.

Thomas Hodson was born in 1804, at North Scarle, Lincolnshire, England.

Thomas Hodson left India in March 1878 for England, where he died on 9 September 1882.

In particular, Thomas Hodson intended to follow the example of the American missionaries in Ceylon and establish an extensive educational system in Bangalore.

For reaching out to the Canarese, Thomas Hodson was learning the language, so he would be able to interact with them.

In 1832, Thomas Hodson was appointed to Bangalore, along with Peter Percival.

Around this time, Thomas Hodson decided to start a Mission at Gubbi, which a native town in the Mysore Kingdom.

Thomas Hodson chose Gubbi to set up the mission because in Bangalore, he found that his time and efforts were taken away in preaching to the British and European officers, and he could not concentrate on the local population.

However, the Gubbi mission was temporarily abandoned and Thomas Hodson returned to Bangalore.

For some time, Thomas Hodson was involved in managing the Tamil works at Bangalore.

Rev Thomas Cryer took over from Hodson as the Supervisor of the Wesleyan Tamil Mission.

Thomas Hodson recorded the experiences of the Gubbi Mission in his book Old Daniel, or, Memoir of a converted Hindoo: with observations on mission work in the Goobbe circuit and description of village life in India, which provides an excellent account of village life in the 19th century Mysore State.

The land for the Wesleyan Canarese Mission was obtained by Thomas Hodson, and was located just outside one of the town gates.

Thomas Hodson made several sketches about the life in the Bangalore Petah and Mysore State.

Some of Thomas Hodson's sketches are with the Museum of Sydney, The Rocks.

Thomas Hodson recorded other sketches around South India, some of them are below.