That's interesting, Shona. Thanks. I haven't come across a Valentine but Joseph Jory was one person, and there should be an Ann(e) and a George, so it looks as though she had forgotten the names of some of the Hodges grandchildren too!
I have just been reading the following on Google Books, which would explain why I have had trouble finding baptisms:
From "A History of the English Baptists" by Joseph Ivimey
CHURCH AT LORIMER'S-HALL
THIS meeting-house is thus described by Maitland, in his history of London: - "A small, but convenient hall, at London Wall."...This church was without a pastor in April 1704... It is supposed that the Rev. Nathaniel Hodges became the pastor of this church soon after 1704, and continued so till Mr. Ebenezer Wilson left Artillery-lane in 1708...
Mr. Hodges had been educated with a view to the ministry at a Dissenting academy at Taunton. From thence in 1698, when twenty-three years of age, he accepted an invitation to settle as pastor with the church at Plymouth, where he resided three years. His name is signed to a manuscript letter ... sent by the Western Association assembled at Taunton, June 17, 1701. In the following January, having (as the Plymouth records state it) "succeeded to earthly honours, he left the church, and settled in London." It is likely he succeeded to some property, as he was, it is evident, of a rich family. He appears to have joined the church in Petty France under Mr. William Collins, and it is probable some of his relations were members of that church. The last entry in the handwriting of that excellent pastor records, June 7, 1702, that "brother Hodges was taken into the church."
Mr. Hodges has been already introduced to the reader as employed to present an Address to King George I, in 1715. A Tory newspaper writer, on that occasion, intimated that he had been brought up to a trade. "Cardinal Wolsey was of as mean extraction as these; and the principal of them, Mr. Hodges, was of a trade that ought not to be thrown in his teeth, considering that it first afforded us that excellent astrologer, John Partridge, and has since given them so good a divine in the person of Mr. Hodges; to which holy science, that humble occupation has a more immediate tendency of its own nature, because it trains a man up regularly to the curing of soles."
Crosby says, "His uncle, a gentleman of a great estate, did not approve of his inclination to the study of divinity; and finding he could not be diverted therefrom, nor persuaded to join in the ministry of the established church, where he could have promoted him to some dignity, made him afterwards, as long as he lived, feel the smart of his resentment for his close adherence to what he believed to be truth. Upon the death of his uncle*, when he became by inheritance possessed of a large estate, he laid down his ministry, and had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him by his Majesty George I. He died August 27, 1727, in the fifty-second year of his age, and lies buried in Stepney church-yard, where a fine monument is erected by his lady to his memory."
I find the name of this minister signed to a letter sent to Mr Peart, of Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire, dated London, Sept 10, 1717, in connection with those of Dr John Gale, Messrs Joseph Burroughs, and Benjamin Stinton. The subject of this was whether the Greek preposition in Matt. iii 16, which our translators had rendered out of the water, was rightly translated. It is evident from this letter that Mr. Hodges was considered among his brethren as a person of respectable learning and good abilities.
Mr. Hodges was one of the non-subscribers at the synod at Salters'-hall in 1719, which is all the further information we have respecting his ministerial character. It is probable he laid down his ministry soon after that period, though it is not said at what time he received the honour of knighthood. Thus it appears that his "earthly honours" eventually proved destructive to him, at least to his character as a minister. So true is it, that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. It is a very affecting thing that he who, when young, chose rather to suffer his rich uncle's displeasure than to violate his conscience and abandon his principles, should, after he was forty years of age, be carried away with the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things, and thus become unfruitful. It is not said what became of the "large estate," at his death, except that a part of it was expended in erecting a fine monument over his renowned dust! We have never heard that he left any part of his money to the poor of Christ's flock, or to any charitable institution.
Thus terminated the "earthly honours" of Sir Nathaniel Hodges; the only Baptist minister of whom we have heard that he received the honour of knighthood; the only Baptist minister who laid down his ministry on account of his being elevated to the rank of a knight, and, like Demas, deserted his friends, having loved this present world. Such instances are indeed rare; but they are deeply affecting, and should teach all ministers, especially if they are rich, or expect to possess riches, earnestly to pray that they may be preserved from the love of money, the root of all evil. The following is the inscription upon what Crosby calls the "fine monument." By comparing it with those on the tombs of his contemporaries, Joseph Stennett, Edward Wallin, and others, the reader may be able to judge who possessed the greatest honour. Under the coat of arms is this inscription:-
SR NATHL HODGES, KNT.
OF BETHNALL GREEN.
OBT. THE 27TH OF AUGUST, 1727
AETATIS 52.
* Probably Sir William Hodges, an eminent Spanish merchant, and returned a Member of Parliament for St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, in 1705 and 1708. He died July 31, 1714, and was buried in the church of St Catharine, Coleman-street, London.
He is right about Nathaniel Hodges' will - there is no mention of God or any church in it at all apart from "In the Name of God Amen" at the very beginning. His widow has the standard stuff in hers about thanking God for her clarity of mind and commending her soul to God, but he doesn't even say that, and no, he didn't leave any legacy to a church or charity, all of it is to his wife and children.
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