Arthur William Hodge (c. 1763 – 8 May 1811) was a Tortolan planter, politician and serial killer who was executed by hanging in 1811 for murdering one of his slaves.
Born in the British Virgin Islands, Hodge studied at Oriel College, Oxford, matriculating in 1781 before briefly serving as an officer in the 23rd Regiment of Foot.
Returning to Tortola in 1803, he settled down to a life as a plantation owner while also pursuing a political career, serving in both the colony's Executive Council and its Legislative Assembly.
In 1811, Hodge was hanged after being found guilty of murdering a slave he owned, the first British subject to be executed for such a crime.
Evidence was presented that he caused the deaths of other slaves in his estate, including: Cuffy, Else, Jupiter, Margaret, and Tom and Simon Boiler.
[9] At least one free black man, named Peter, was also flogged while working on Hodge's estate and later died, allegedly as a result of his severe treatment.
Bella, a small mulatto girl of about eight years of age, who was his offspring by his slave Peggy, was flogged and beaten by Hodge personally.
Hodge also had the heads of several mulatto children, possibly also sired by him, held under water until they lost consciousness, then had them revived only to repeat the process.
The two strongest prosecution witnesses were Stephen McKeough, a white man who inspected the Hodge estate, and Perreen Georges.
Hodge called his sister, Penelope, and a witness described as an "old black woman" to give testimony to his innocence, but reports suggest that their evidence was not regarded as credible.
[17]However, the jury were also charged with the words of Richard Hetherington, President of the Council of the Territory: ...the law makes no distinction between master and servant.
Such recommendations were not binding, and the presiding judge, Chief Justice Robertson, pronounced that Hodge should be "hanged by the neck on Wednesday the 8 May following, until he was dead, on a spot near unto the common prison."
The Governor of the Leeward Islands, Hugh Elliot, was compelled to commission a militia to prevent reprisals "in a conjuncture so replete with party animosity."
White slaveowners might have been angry that a social peer could be sentenced to death for the murder of a black slave, who by the laws of the time was considered property.
[27]) During the series of arguments, Martin went to Hodge's house on 3 January 1811 "and there most wantonly insulted and assaulted him" according to court records, before doing the same thing to Robertson later that day.
Martin decided that "it better not to fight him, without first attempting to deliver himself from such a desperate enemy, by bringing him to public justice" since Hodge was known to be an excellent pistol shot and duellist.
[31] After delivering the verdict in his trial, all of the jurors swore that to their knowledge Arthur Hodge held no property in the British Virgin Islands.
Arthur Hodge had adopted a new will leaving his estate to his son during the disputes with Musgrave and Martin which led to his execution, although there is no suggestion that he feared for his life at this time.