Portal:British Virgin Islands/Selected biography/1

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Arthur William Hodge (1763 - 1811) was a plantation farmer, member of the Council and Legislative Assembly and slave owner in the British Virgin Islands who was hanged on 8 May 1811 for the murder of one of his slaves. Hodge was the first, if not the only slave owner executed for the murder of a slave in the British West Indies. He though was not, as some have claimed, the first white person to have been lawfully executed for the killing of a slave.

Hodge was born in the British Virgin Islands, studied at Oriel College, Oxford and served in the British Army. His wife was a sister-in-law of the Marquess of Exeter. He was described as a man of great accomplishments and elegant manners ^[1] and upon his father's death, he returned to the British Virgin Islands to assume control of the family's plantation. (more...)