Charles Dodgson (bishop)

{{Short description|English Anglican cleric}}

{{EngvarB|date=August 2017}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}

{{Infobox Christian leader

| type = bishop

| honorific-prefix = The Right Reverend

| name = Charles Dodgson

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}}

| title = Bishop of Elphin

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| church = Church of Ireland

| province = Armagh

| diocese = Elphin

| elected =

| appointed = 12 April 1775

| term_start =

| term_end = 21 January 1795

| predecessor = Jemmett Browne

| successor = John Law

| other_post = Bishop of Ossory (1765–1775)

| ordination =

| ordinated_by =

| consecration = 11 August 1765

| consecrated_by = William Carmichael

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Circa|1722}}

| birth_place = Howden, Yorkshire, England

| death_date = 21 January 1795

| death_place = Dublin, Ireland

| buried = St. Bride's Church, Dublin

| nationality = English

| religion = Anglican

| spouse = {{marriage|Mary Frances Smyth|1768}}

| children = Three sons, one daughter

| occupation =

| profession =

| alma_mater = St. John's College, Cambridge

| motto =

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| signature_alt =

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}}

Charles Dodgson {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}} ({{circa|1722}} – 21 January 1795) was an English Anglican cleric who served in the Church of Ireland as the Bishop of Ossory (1765–1775) then Bishop of Elphin (1775–1795).

Dodgson was born in Howden, Yorkshire. His date of birth is not recorded; he was baptised on 10 January 1722. His father, Christopher Dodgson (1696–1750), was the curate there. Charles Dodgson was educated at Westminster School and St. John's College, Cambridge.

After ordination, he was appointed to the parish of Bintry, Norfolk in 1746. He moved to the north of England, keeping a school at Stanwix in Cumberland and becoming Rector of Kirby Wiske in 1755. He was tutor to Lord Algernon Percy, the son of the Duke of Northumberland; in 1762, the Duke gave him the parish of Elsdon, Northumberland. Dodgson was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1762.{{cite book|title=History of the Royal Society: From Its Institution to the End of the Eighteenth Century|year=1812|chapter=Appendix IV|page=xl|author=Thomas Thomson|publisher=R. Baldwin|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqjjR4Qt9IgC&pg=PR50}}

Rapidly promoted, he was nominated to the bishopric of Ossory on 22 June and consecrated at St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin on 11 August 1765 by William Carmichael, Archbishop of Dublin.{{Harvnb|Cotton|1848}}, The Province of Leinster, p. 287.{{Harvnb|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1986}}, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 404. Ten years later, he was translated to the bishopric of Elphin by letters patent on 12 April 1775.{{Harvnb|Cotton|1850}}, The Province of Connaught, p. 129.{{Harvnb|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1986}}, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 393. King George III congratulated him on this promotion, saying that he ought indeed to be thankful to have got away from a palace where the stabling was so bad.{{harvnb|Collingwood|1898}}, The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll, p. 5.