DODD, WILLIAM 2 7 7) , English divine, was born at Bourne, Lincs., in May 1729. He was admitted a sizar of Clare hall, Cambridge, in 1745, and took the degree of B.A. in 175o, being 15th wrangler. He entered the church, received rapid pre ferment, and was also tutor to Philip Stanhope, earl of Chester field. An effort by his wife to bribe the wife of the lord chancellor drove him from England for some time. He returned in 1776, and, being in financial straits, forged a bond for £4, 200 on his former pupil, Lord Chesterfield. He was sentenced to death, and was executed at Tyburn on June Samuel Johnson was very zealous in pleading for a pardon, and a petition from the City of London received 23,00o signatures. Dr. Dodd wrote one or two comedies and a popular book, the Beauties of Shake speare (1752). A list of his 55 writings and an account of the writer is included in the Thoughts in Prison, a poem written in prison before his execution.
See P. Fitzgerald, A Famous Forgery (1865) .