# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lodge, Edmund

​LODGE, EDMUND (1756–1839), biographer, born in Poland Street, London, on 13 June 1756, was the only surviving son of Edmund Lodge, rector of Carshalton, Surrey, by Mary, daughter, and eventually sole heiress, of Richard Garrard of Carshalton. He became a cornet in the third (King's Own) regiment of dragoons on 29 Nov. 1771 (Army List, 1772, p. 31), but disliking the army he resigned his commission early in 1773. The office of Bluemantle pursuivant-at-arms at the College of Arms was obtained for him on. 22 Feb. 1782. He was elected F.S.A. in 1787. He became Lancaster herald on 29 Oct. 1793, Norroy on 11 June 1822, and Clarenceux on 30 July 1838. In 1832 he was gazetted a knight of the order of the Guelphs of Hanover. Lodge died on 16 Jan. 1839 in Bloomsbury Square, London, and was buried on the 24th in the adjoining church of St. George. He married Jane Anne Elizabeth, daughter of Lieutenant Michael Field, R.N., of Dublin, but had no children. Mrs. Lodge died in May 1820, and was buried at Carshalton.
In manner Lodge was the perfection of courtesy. In politics he was a high tory, and declared his opinions in all he wrote. He was always ready to assist distressed authors. A sketch of him as Norroy appeared in 'Fraser's Magazine' (xiv. 595); there are also engravings by 'W. D.' and Smith after a portrait by Maclise. His library was sold in March 1839.
His reputation as an accomplished historical scholar was made by an admirable selection from the Howard, Talbot, and Cecil manuscripts in the College of Arms, which he published as 'Illustrations of British History, Biography, and Manners in the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth, and James I … with numerous Notes and Observations … with Portraits,' 3 vols. 4to. London, 1791; 2nd edit, same year. Another edition, also called the 'second,' with some additions, was issued in 1838 in three octavo volumes. Lodge next undertook the preparation of the 'biographical tracts' accompanying John Chamberlaine's 'Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein,' fol. 1792, and 4to, 1812, which originally came out in parts. In 1810 he published, without his name, a 'Life of Sir Julius Caesar … with Memoirs of his Family and Descendants. ​Illustrated by seventeen Portraits. To which is added Numerus Infaustus, an Historical Work by Charles Csesar,' 4to, London; 2nd edit., with name, 1827.
His chief work is the series of pleasantly written 'biographical and historical memoirs' attached to 'Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain, engraved from authentic pictures.' The first edition was commenced in 1814, and completed in forty parts in folio (collective edition, 4 vols. 1821-34). The cost exceeded 40,000l In 1821 an edition in imperial octavo was issued in eighty parts, containing a letter from Sir Walter Scott to the publisher, in which he expressed his obligations to Lodge's writings (collective edition, 12 vols. 1835). A popular edition was published in 'Bonn's Illustrated Library,' 8 vols. small 8vo, 1849-50.
Lodge's other works are:
* 'List of the Great Shield of Quarterings of Sir Egerton Brydges,' fol.(Paris? 1826?).
* 'An Achievement containing 892 Quarterings of Alliance, pertaining to Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland. Compiled by E. Lodge and Sir N. H. Nicolas,' fol., London, 1830 (privately printed).
* 'The Genealogy of the existing British Peerage, with brief Sketches of the Family Histories of the Nobility. With Engravings of the Arms,' 12mo, London, 1832 (1834, 1849; new edit. 1859, with the addition of the baronetage).
From motives of benevolence Lodge lent his name to an 'Annual Peerage and Baronetage,' 4 vols. 12mo, 1827-9, reissued in 1832 as the 'Peerage of the British Empire,' &c., which was in reality the compilation of Anne, Eliza, and Maria Innes. The work is still published as 'Lodge's Peerage.' He wrote also the preface to the second edition of the 'Antiquarian Repertory ' (1807), the preface to Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's 'Works' (1822),and in the 'Quarterly Review' articles on the 'Sadler Papers,' 'Histories of London,' and Scott's edition of 'Swift.'
[Gent. Mag. 1839, pt. i. pp. 433-5; Fraser's Mag. xiv. 595; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit, pp. 358, 424-6; Advertisement to Lodge's Portraits (Bonn's ed. 1849). vol. i. p. vii; Walpole's Letters (Cunningham), ix. 320, 455; Allibone's Dict.; Cat, of Library of London Institution; Evans's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, ii. 251.]
G. G.