Thomas Hodge (illustrator)

Thomas Hodge
Hodge wearing a stovepipe hat and buckskin gloves, c. 1854
Born	1827 Cornwall, England
Died	20 May 1907 (aged 79-80) Kilburn, Middlesex, England
Nationality	England
Occupation	Painter; illustrator
Spouse(s)	Jane Frances Hodge
Children	7

Thomas Hodge (1827 – 20 May 1907) was an English golf illustrator and painter. He became a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews in 1861 and via his thousands of golf illustrations of what were then the greatest golfers in the world he became known as "the golf artist of St Andrews".

After his death, Hodge's work had for the most part fallen into obscurity and had been forgotten. Then, in 1983, a large cache of his watercolors was found in a battered and dusty red album and bought from an African antiques dealer peddling his wares at the Camden Lock Market. Many of the paintings were subsequently offered for sale at Sotheby's in 1985. It made perfect sense that Hodge's work was found collecting dust at the Camden Market — his last known address was only two miles away at Quex Road, just off the Kilburn High Road.

A large collection of Hodge's paintings was donated to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews by Hodge's only living grandchild, Norah Sheward. Due to the notoriety of the Sotheby's sale, the Old Course – elated to receive such historical works on the history of golf – billed Hodge as "artist to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club" when the pictures were displayed by them at the University of St Andrews art gallery in April 1986.

Hodge was born in 1827 in Cornwall, England, near Truro. He was the fourth and youngest son of Joseph A. Hodge, a banker who was the son of a tin and copper miner. Having grown up in Cornwall, Hodge was familiar with the fury of the sea as a boy. He would often walk the shore after storms to find ships that had gone aground. He painted and drew many of the hulks which were grim reminders of the dangers associated with sea travel.

At the urging of his father, Hodge enrolled in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, near London, on 1 August 1842. His banker father, who had squandered his wealth on bad investments in a proposed Cornwall and Devon Railway, had difficulty paying the yearly Academy dues of £80 for board and tuition and as a result Hodge was discharged on 6 March 1846.