# Michael Hodgetts

Michael William Hodgetts KSG (29 March 1936 – 12 December 2022) was an English Catholic historian who became a leading expert on priest holes and on Harvington Hall.

## Early life

Hodgetts was born in Birmingham on 29 March 1936, and was raised a Catholic. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and then studied classics at Worcester College, Oxford, as well as studying for three years as a seminarian at the Venerable English College, Rome, before becoming a teacher at St Thomas More Catholic School, Willenhall.

## Career

In the 1970s and 1980s, he sat on the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, alongside his work as a teacher, and his translation of the hymn Pange lingua is now used in the English-language Catholic liturgy for Good Friday.
In 1984, he was appointed to the management committee of Harvington Hall, a former manor house and centre of Recusancy that had been given to the Archdiocese of Birmingham in 1923. He edited the volumes series of the Catholic Record Society and the society's journal, Recusant History (now British Catholic History). In 1989 he retired from school-teaching and joined the staff of Maryvale Institute, a Catholic college of further and higher education.

## Personal life

He married Barbara in 1969. They had four children.
Hodgetts died on 12 December 2022, at the age of 86.

## Works

Books/Chapters :
| Date | Title |
| 1989 | Secret Hiding Places |
| 1990 | Revising the Order of Christian Funerals in Peter C. Finn & James M. Schellman edd., Shaping English Liturgy: Studies in Honor of Archbishop Denis Hurley |
| 1994 | Recusant Liturgical Music in Christopher Francis & Martin Lynch edd., A Voice for All Time |
| 1996 | History of Blackmore Park 1596-1846-1996 |
| 1999 | (with V Alan McCleland) edd., From Without The Flaminian Gate: 150 years of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales 1850-2000 |
| 1999 | The Iron Form: Catholics and Philosophy between the Councils in McCleland & Hodgetts edd., From Without The Flaminian Gate: 150 years of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales 1850-2000 |
| 1999 | The Godly Garret, 1560-1660’, in Marie B. Rowlands ed., English Catholics of Parish and Town, 1558-1778 |
| 2000 | History of St Joseph's Upton upon Severn 1850-2000 |
| 2002 | History of Erdington Abbey |
| 2002 | History of St Joseph's Nechells |
| 2004 | Nicholas Owen in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |
| 2006 | Introduction to John Gerard: The Autobiography of an Elizabethan, tr Caraman, 2nd edition |
| 2008 | Art and Thought in J. J. Scarisbrick ed., History of the Diocese of Birmingham, 1850-2000 |
| 2009 | Coughton and the Powder Plot in Peter Marshall & Geoffrey Scott, edd. The Catholic Gentry in English Society: The Throckmortons of Coughton from Reformation to Emancipation |
| 2011 | (with Aileen M. Hodgson), Little Malvern Letters—I: 1482-1737 |
| 2024 | Secret Hiding Places 2nd Edn, ed Paul Hodgetts |
| 2024 | (with Aileen M. Hodgson) Little Malvern Letters—II: 1737-1870 |
Journal Articles :
| Date | Journal | Title |
| 1959 | The Venerabile | Priests' Hiding Holes |
| 1959 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society New Series | Adam of Harvington |
| 1960 | The Venerabile | Blessed John Wall - I |
| 1960 | The Venerabile | Blessed John Wall - II |
| 1962 | Staffordshire Catholic History | Staffordshire Priest Holes |
| 1962 | The Month | Nicholas Owen In East Anglia |
| 1962 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society New Series | The Priest-Holes at Harvington Hall |
| 1963 | Worcestershire Recusant | John Wall’s Execution: An Eyewitness |
| 1963 | Worcestershire Recusant | The Recusant History of a County |
| 1964 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society New Series | The Priest-Holes at Hindlip Old Hall |
| 1965 | Recusant History | John Wall at Harvington? |
| 1965 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society Third Series | Elizabethan Recusancy in Worcestershire I |
| 1965 | Worcestershire Recusant | A Certificate of Warwickshire Recusants 1592 I |
| 1965 | Worcestershire Recusant | A Certificate of Warwickshire Recusants 1592 II |
| 1966 | Worcestershire Recusant | The Priest Holes at Harvington: Some Further Notes |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | John Wall’s Juramentum |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusant Houses of Warwickshire and Worcestershire I |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusant Houses of Warwickshire and Worcestershire II |
| 1967 | Worcestershire Recusant | Two Harvington Letters |
| 1968 | Staffordshire Catholic History | The Royal Hiding Places at Boscobel and Moseley |
| 1968 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusant Houses of Warwickshire and Worcestershire III |
| 1970 | Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society Third Series | Elizabethan Recusancy in Worcestershire II |
| 1970 | Worcestershire Recusant | Priests At Harvington 1660-1690 |
| 1972 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes I : Dating and Chronology |
| 1973 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes II : Ufton, Mapledurham and Compton Wynyates |
| 1973 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes III : East Anglia, Baddesley Clinton and Hindlip |
| 1973 | Worcestershire Recusant | Long Live King James: A Satirical Poem |
| 1974 | Worcestershire Recusant | Jesuits at Baddesley Clinton October 1591 |
| 1975 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes IV : Harvington Hall |
| 1975 | Worcestershire Recusant | Register of Thomas Butler of Much Wenlock I |
| 1976 | Music and Liturgy | Translating Liturgical Texts |
| 1976 | Recusant History | Brough Hall Caterrick and Thorpe Hall Norwich: A note |
| 1976 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes V : The North |
| 1976 | The Clergy Review | Recusant Liturgical Music |
| 1976 | Worcestershire Recusant | Register of Thomas Butler of Much Wenlock II |
| 1977 | Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland Newsletter | The English Church without Bishops: 1559-1623 |
| 1977 | Recusant History | Elizabethan Priest Holes VI : The Escape of Charles II |
| 1977 | The Clergy Review | The English Tradition and Liturgical Reform |
| 1977 | Worcestershire Recusant | Register of Thomas Butler of Much Wenlock III |
| 1978 | Worcestershire Recusant | Charles II at Bromsgrove? |
| 1980 | Recusant History | Tanner on Nicholas Owen: A Note |
| 1980 | Worcestershire Recusant | Seventeenth Century Priests at Harvington |
| 1981 | Worcestershire Recusant | An Inventory of Harvington Hall 1826 |
| 1981 | Worcestershire Recusant | Harvington Hall 1929-1979: A Study In Local Historiography |
| 1982 | Recusant History | A Topographical Index of Hiding Places |
| 1982 | Worcestershire Recusant | Paradisus Redivivus? |
| 1982 | Worcestershire Recusant | Park Hall, Castle Bromwich |
| 1983 | Worship | Sense and Sound in Liturgical Translation |
| 1984 | ECA Journal | Priest-Holes and Recusancy |
| 1985 | Eighteenth-Century Life (Williamsburg, VA) | Secret Hiding Places: A Narrative of Tradition and Truth from the Restoration to the Regency |
| 1985 | Liturgy | Rejoicing in Psalms? |
| 1985 | Worcestershire Recusant | An Inventory of Harvington Hall 1797 |
| 1986 | Worcestershire Recusant | Recusants in the Midlands |
| 1986 | Worcestershire Recusant | Shropshire Priests in 1605 |
| 1989 | Recusant History | Loca Secretiora in 1581 |
| 1991 | Midlands Catholic History | De Angelis on the Barrel-Organ, 1819 |
| 1991 | Midlands Catholic History | Recusant Contributors to the Worcester Cathedral Organ 1613 |
| 1992 | Midlands Catholic History | Mrs Packington and a Shakespearian Emblem |
| 1993 | Music and Liturgy | De Angelis on the Barrel-Organ, 1819 |
| 1994 | Midlands Catholic History | ‘Wharton’s Ghost’ 1785 |
| 1994 | Midlands Catholic History | Thomas Belson’s Complaint |
| 1994 | Recusant History | The Yates of Harvington 1631-1696 |
| 1995 | Liturgy | Revising the Missal: Introit and Communion Antiphons |
| 1995 | Midlands Catholic History | Origins of Recusancy: The Pakingtons 1530-80 |
| 1998 | Recusant History | A Topographical Index of Hiding Places II |
| 1999 | Recusant History | The Owens of Oxford |
| 2000 | Midlands Catholic History | Campion in Staffordshire and Derbyshire 1581 |
| 2002 | Recusant History | The Throckmortons of Harvington 1696-1923 |
| 2003 | Midlands Catholic History | The Holtes of Aston Hall Birmingham |
| 2004 | Midlands Catholic History | Rushock Court 1595 |
| 2005 | Midlands Catholic History | The Chimney Hide at Mapledurham |
| 2005 | Recusant History | A Topographical Index of Hiding Places III |
| 2006 | Midlands Catholic History | The Gunpowder Plot in Warwickshire and Worcestershire |
| 2006 | Recusant History | Mille Maeandris Nicholas Owen 1606-2006 |
| 2006 | Recusant History | The 1958 Conference in Context |
| 2007 | Music and Liturgy | Recusant Liturgy 1559-1791 |
| 2008 | Midlands Catholic History | Itinerant Priests in Oxfordshire 1592 |
| 2009 | Midlands Catholic History | Worcester Conformity certificates 1614-27 |
| 2009 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Papistry and Brewing: The Malt House at Harvington |
| 2010 | Midlands Catholic History | Recusant Liturgy 1559-1791 |
| 2010 | Recusant History | Campion in the Thames Valley 1580 |
| 2011 | Midlands Catholic History | Greys Court, Oxfordshire |
| 2012 | Midlands Catholic History | Barsford Bridge 1584 |
| 2012 | Midlands Catholic History | Thomas Strange and the Powder Plot |
| 2012 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Pugin & Newman |
| 2013 | Midlands Catholic History | Francis Martyn (1782-1838) and St Mary’s The Mount |
| 2014 | Midlands Catholic History | Midland Recusant Altars |
| 2014 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | ‘Firmness to this Glass’: The Stonework at Harvington |
| 2015 | Midlands Catholic History | Lyford Grange 1581-1681 |
| 2015 | Midlands Catholic History | The Jesuits in Sutton Coldfield: A Note |
| 2016 | Midlands Catholic History | Hides and Hinges: Boscobel and Harvington |
| 2016 | Music and Liturgy | Recusant Hymnody 1559-1800 |
| 2016 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Franciscans in Birmingham, 1656-1716 |
| 2017 | Midlands Catholic History | The Simeons of Britwell House, Oxfordshire, and Aston-By-Stone, Staffordshire |
| 2018 | Midlands Catholic History | Charles II in Warwickshire 10 September 1651 |
| 2019 | Midlands Catholic History | Henry Garnet’s Pilgrimage to Holywell, 1605 |
| 2019 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Birmingham Catholics, 1560-1660 |
| 2020 | Midlands Catholic History | The Layout of Elizabethan Recusant Houses |
| 2020 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | ‘Lead, Kindly Light’: Newman’s Hymns |
| 2021 | Midlands Catholic History | Rycote, Thame Park and Waterperry 1530-1800 |
| 2021 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Georgian Chapels |
| 2022 | Midlands Catholic History | Lady Yate's Fund for Harvington |
| 2022 | Midlands Catholic History | The Elizabethan Catholic Underground |
| 2022 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | Benedictines in Worcestershire and Warwickshire, 1600-1800 |
| 2022 | The Basilican (St Chad's Cathedral Magazine) | The Jesuit Residence of St George, 1580-1780 |
| 2023 | Midlands Catholic History | Dodd and his History |
| 2024 | Midlands Catholic History | Nicholas Owen: Jesuit Lay Brother? |
Archdiocese of Birmingham Historical Commission :
| Date | Title |
| 1987 | St Chad's Cathedral |
| 1990 | Midlands Catholic Buildings |
| 1991 | Harvington Hall guidebook (repub.1998 and 2011) |
| 2002 | Life at Harvington |
| 2017 | Midland Martyrs |
Unpublished / Works in progress :
* Title
* Eighteenth Century Chapels in the Archdiocese of Birmingham
* Elizabethan Catholic Gentry: Portraits in Settings
* Elizabethan Catholics in Leicestershire
* Elizabethan Catholics in Lincolnshire
* Elizabethan Recusancy at Eynsham
* Grafton Manor, Badge Court and Purshall Hall
* Hindlip House 1606
* Linen on Hedges
* Recusant Houses of the Midlands and East Anglia
* Robert Persons in the Welsh Marches 1580
* The Comptons of Compton Wynyates
* The Fortescues of Cookhill
* Tixhall Hall and Gatehouse
* Words for Music Perhaps: The Mechanics of Texts for Hymns

## Awards

* Knight of St Gregory the Great (1990)