[1][2][3] Hodgskin's father, who worked at the British Admiralty dock stores, enrolled him in the navy at the age of 12.
Publication of his Essay on Naval Discipline brought Hodgskin to the attention of radicals such as Francis Place.
[4] In 1823, Hodgskin joined forces with Joseph Clinton Robertson in founding the Mechanics Magazine.
[5] Despite his high profile in the agitated revolutionary times of the 1820s, he retreated into the realm of Whig journalism after the Reform Act 1832.
[7][8] His criticism of employers appropriation of the lion's share of the value produced by their employees went on to influence subsequent generations of socialists, including Karl Marx.