Background
Born as Robert Trotter Hodge, he was the son of G West Hodge of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1877 he married Frances Caroline Hermon, only daughter of Edward Hermon, Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Preston.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Born as Robert Trotter Hodge, he was the son of G West Hodge of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1877 he married Frances Caroline Hermon, only daughter of Edward Hermon, Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Preston.
He was educated at Clifton College and Worcester College, Oxford.
In 1903 he added her surname to his own to become "Hermon-Hodge". He entered politics in 1884, when he was adopted as Conservative candidate for the Wallingford parliamentary constituency. The seat was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Acting 1885, however, and he instead contested the new seat of Accrington in Lancashire.
Although he failed to be elected on that occasion, another general election was called in 1886, and he was elected to the Commons as Accrington"s Member of Parliament. He served one term as the town"s member, losing the seat at the next election in 1892, and narrowly failing to be re-elected in an 1893 by-election.
Hodge returned to Parliament at the 1895 general election as Member of Parliament for the Southern or Henley Division of Oxfordshire. He held the seat in 1900 but was defeated in the Liberal landslide of 1906.
In 1902 he was made a baronet "of Wyfold Court in the Parish of Chickendon in the county of Oxford". Re-elected at the ensuing poll in January 1910, he stood down in December of the same year.
In May 1917 Valentine Fleming, the sitting Member of Parliament for Henley, was killed fighting on the Western Front.
Hermon-Hodge was elected unopposed to fill the vacancy at a by-election in June. He finally retired from parliament at the post war general election in 1918. In May 1919 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Wyfold, of Accrington in the County Palatine of Lancaster.
He enjoyed the life of a country gentleman at the family estate of Wyfold Court, near Reading, Berkshire.
He also participated in deer-stalking, shooting and fishing. He attended the Henley Regatta each year, and is remembered in the name of the Wyfold Challenge Cup.
He was honorary colonel of the regiment at the time of his death.
24th United Kingdom Parliament. 25th United Kingdom Parliament. 26th United Kingdom Parliament.
27th United Kingdom Parliament.
28th United Kingdom Parliament. 29th United Kingdom Parliament.
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He was also a leading freemason and was for thirty years a member of the Queen"s Own Oxfordshire Hussars.
He was an enthusiastic sportsman, being a member of various hunts in Berkshire and South Oxfordshire.
