HODGSON, BRIAN HOUGHTON English administrator, ethnologist and naturalist, was born at Lower Beech, Cheshire, on Feb. 1, 1800. In 1816 he obtained an East Indian writership, went out to India in 1818 and in 182o was appointed assistant to the resident at Katmandu. In 1833 he became resident in Nepal, and succeeded in concluding a satis factory treaty in 1839 with the court to which he was accredited; but in 1842 his imperious policy towards the native Government was upset by the interference of Lord Ellenborough. Hodgson disobeyed the latter's instructions; he was continued in office for a time, but was recalled in 1843. He died at Alderley Grange in the Cotswold hills, on May 23, Hodgson did much to throw light on Buddhism as it exists in Nepal. He presented his collection of Sanskrit manuscripts to the East India Office. He also became the greatest authority on the flora of the Himalayas. He wrote 184 philological and ethnological, and 127 scientific papers, and some pamphlets on native education. His principal work, Illustrations of the Litera ture and Religion of Buddhists (1841) was republished with other writings in 1872-80.
See his Life by Sir W. W. Hunter (1896) .