Dr William, an unfortunate English divine, eldest son of the Rev. William Dodd, many years vicar of Bourne, in Lincolnshire, was born in May 1729. He was sent, at the age of sixteen, to the university of Cambridge, where he was admitted a sizar of Clare-Hall in the year 1745. In 1750 he took the degree of B. A. with credit, being upon that occasion in the list of wranglers. On leaving the university, he imprudently married a Miss Mary Perkins in 1751, was ordained a deacon the same year, and priest in 1753, and soon became a popular and celebrated preacher. His first preferment was the lectureship of West-Ham and Bow. In 1754 he was also chosen lecturer of St Olave's, Hart Street; and in 1757 he took the degree of A. M. at Cambridge. He was a strenuous supporter of the Magdalen Hospital, which was founded in 1758, and soon afterwards became preacher at the chapel of that charity. By the patronage of Bishop Squire, he in 1763 obtained a prebend at Brecon; and by the interest of some city friends got himself appointed one of the king's chaplains; soon after which the education of the Earl of Chesterfield was committed to his care. In 1766 he went to Cambridge and took the degree of L.L.D. At this period, the estimation in which he was held by the world was sufficient to give him the expectation of preferment, and hopes of riches and honour; and these he might probably have realised had he possessed a portion of common prudence and discretion. But, impatient of his situation, and eager for advancement, he unhappily fell upon means which in the end proved the occasion of his ruin. On the living of St George, Hanover Square, becoming vacant, he wrote an anonymous letter to the chancellor's lady, offering three thousand guineas if, by her assistance, he was promoted to the benefice. This letter having been traced to him, a complaint was immediately made to the king, and Dr Dodd was dismissed with disgrace from his office of chaplain. From this period he lived neglected, if not despised; and as his extravagance still continued, he soon became involved in difficulties, which tempted him to forge a bond on his late pupil Lord Chesterfield, for £4200, which he actually received. But he was detected, committed to prison, tried at the Old Bailey, found guilty, received sentence of death, and, in spite of numerous applications for mercy, executed at Tyburn on the 27th of June 1777. Dr Dodd was a voluminous writer, and possessed considerable abilities, with but little judgment and much vanity. An accurate list of his various writings is prefixed to his Thoughts in Prison, 1781.