He was born at the Old Abbey, County Limerick, Ireland, the eldest son of George Thomas Hodges.

[2] In 1832 he commanded the brigade of British volunteers who enlisted to fight to restore the rightful Queen of Portugal, Maria da Glória, to her throne against the forces of the usurper, Dom Miguel.

With the rest of the forces commanded by Maria's father Dom Pedro, the ex-Emperor of Brazil, they sailed from Terceira in the Azores, captured Oporto and endured a siege there of nearly a year.

He afterwards published a memoir, Narrative of the Expedition to Portugal in 1832, under the orders of His Imperial Majesty Dom Pedro, Duke of Braganza (London, 1833).

[4] On 11 May 1841, he was appointed Consul-General in the Circle of Lower Saxony and for the Free Cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck.