He was born in 1827 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. He was the youngest son of a physician at Brighton, his elder brother, the Rev. W. H. Bodley, becoming a well-known Roman Catholic preacher and a professor at Oscott.
He was a student of George Gilbert Scott in the 1840.
His domestic work included the London School Board offices, the new buildings at Magdalen, Oxford, and Hewell Grange (for Lord Windsor).
From 1872 he had for twenty years the partnership of Mr T. Gamer, who worked with him. They collaborated on projects including: St John the Baptist, Tuebrook in Liverpool; Queens' College Chapel, Cambridge; All Saints, Danehill, East Sussex and The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire.
He also designed (with his pupil James Vaughan) the cathedral at Washington, D. C. , U. S. A. , and cathedrals at San Francisco and in Tasmania; and when Mr Gilbert Scott's design for his new Liverpool cathedral was successful in the competition he collaborated with the young architect in preparing for its erection.
Bodley began contributing to the Royal Academy in 1854, and in 1881 was elected A. R. A. , becoming R. A. in 1902.
In addition to being a most learned master of architecture, he was a beautiful draughtsman, and a connoisseur in art; he published a volume of poems in 1899; and he was a designer of wall-papers and chintzes for Watts & Co. , of Baker Street, London; in early life he had been in close alliance with the Pre-Raphaelites, and he did a great deal, like William Morris, to improve public taste in domestic decoration and furniture.
He married Minna F. H. Reavely, daughter of Thomas George Wood Reavely, at Kinnersley Castle in 1872. They had a son, George H. Bodley, born in 1874.
