{{short description|Member of the Parliament of England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Use British English|date=March 2018}} [[File:Hody OfPilsdon Arms.png|thumb|Arms of Hody of Pilsdon: ''Argent, a fess per fess indented vert and sable between two cotises counterchanged of the fess a bordure engrailed (or?)'', as seen on the monumental brass in Haccombe Church, Devon, of his granddaughter Mary Hody (d.1589), wife of Thomas Carew (d.1586) of Haccombe<ref>The bordure engrailed (tincture unknown), as shown on the brass, of which the lower half is missing, appears to be a difference of the arms of the senior branch of the family, Hody of Stowell, Somerset: ''Argent, a fess per fess indented vert and sable between two cotises counterchanged of the fess'' (Source: Burke's General Armory, 1884, p.515 [https://books.google.com/books?id=3WjdEHsAu88C&dq=huddy+fees+per+fess&pg=PA515] Also p.496, Hody). The Haccombe brass shows a mullet in chief, the difference of a 3rd son, although most sources state William Hody, father of Mary Hody, to have been a 2nd son</ref>]] '''Sir William Hody''' (born before 1441, died 1524) of Pilsdon in Dorset,<ref name=":1">Heraldic Visitation of Dorset 1565, p.21</ref> was an English lawyer, judge and politician who served as Attorney General for England and Wales and Chief Baron of the Exchequer under King Henry VII.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=13456|first=J. H.|last=Baker|title=Hody, Sir William}}</ref>
==Origins== He was born before 1441,<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Hody, William|volume=27}}</ref> the second son of Sir John Hody (d. 1441), Chief Justice of the King's Bench. His sister, Elisabeth Hody, married Sir Robert Strode of Parnham House, Dorset which they re-built from 1522.{{cn|date=December 2022}}
==Career== He was a Member of Parliament for Totnes in 1472, and for Bridgwater in 1483.<ref name="ODNB"/> His name is first mentioned in the year-books in 1476. He procured a reversal of the attainder of his uncle, Sir Alexander Hody (of Bowre, Somerset), who had been attainted at Edward IV's accession for adherence to the House of Lancaster during the wars of the Roses.<ref name="DNB"/>
In 1485, shortly after the accession of King Henry VII, Hody became Attorney General for England and Wales. On 29 October 1486 he was appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer. He retired as a judge in 1522.<ref name="DNB"/>
==Marriage and children== William Hody married (1st) Eleanor Malet, daughter of Sir Baldwin Malet of 'Corypool' (now Curry Mallet) in Somerset, Solicitor General to King Henry VIII, who was the second son of Thomas Malet (died 1502) by his wife Joan Wadham, daughter of Sir William Wadham. By his wife he had two sons and two daughters: *Reignold Hody,<ref name=":1" /> eldest son; *William Hody of Pilsdon, 2nd son,<ref>Heraldic Visitation of Dorset 1565, p.21 [https://archive.org/stream/visitationofdors00harvuoft#page/20/mode/2up]</ref> who married twice: (1st) to Margery Keyne, daughter and heiress of Anthony Keyne, of Kent, by whom he had three sons: Richard, John and William;<ref name=":1" /> He married (2nd) Anne Strode, daughter of John Strode, of Chalmington, Dorset, by whom he had a daughter Mary Hody (d.19 November 1588), wife of Sir Thomas Carew (1518-1586) of Haccombe in Devon.<ref name=":1" /> The separate monumental brasses of Mary Hody and her husband survive in Haccombe Church. Mary's brass shows the arms of Carew impaling Hody and is inscribed in Latin as follows: ::''Hic jacet Maria Carew uxor Thomae Carew de Haccombe, Arm(igeri) & filia Will(elmi) Huddye de com(itatu) Dorset, Arm(igeri), quae obiit 19 die Nov(embris) A(nno) D(omini) 1588''<ref>Quoted by Prince, p.166</ref> ("Here lies Mary Carew, wife of Thomas Carew of Haccombe, Esquire, and a daughter of William Huddye from the county of Dorset, who died on the 19th day of November in the year of our Lord 158 *Joan Hody, wife of Sir Richard Warre (died 1601) of Hestercombe; *Eme Hody,<ref name=":1" /> wife of Lawrence Wadham, a son of Nicholas Wadham of Merryfield, Ilton in Somerset and of Edge, Branscombe in Devon.<ref name="DNB"/>
''<big>Other children not listed above:</big>''
* Agnes Hody (other variations include Huddye). second wife of Robert Cary. Issue: William Cary who married Joan Herle. Issue: William Cary of Ladford who married Jane Goch ''(other alias '''Gove''', Gough)'', Robert Cary (born 1533) who married Christian Dennis and Agnes Cary. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Westcote |first=Thomas |date=1845 |title=A view of Devonshire in MDCXXX, with a pedigree of most of its gentry. [1630] |url=https://ia800903.us.archive.org/32/items/viewofdevonshire00west/viewofdevonshire00west.pdf |access-date= |website=archive.org |page=532, 535, 547}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vivian |first=John Lambrick |date=1895 |title=Visitations of the County of Devon. The Heralds Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002002213917&seq=164&q1=hody |page=150}}</ref>
==Death== Hody died on 18 June 1524.<ref name="ODNB"/>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle=Hody, William|volume=27}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box | title = Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer| years = 1486–1513| before = Humphrey Starkey| after = John Scot}} |- {{succession box | title = Attorney General| years = 1485–1486| before = Morgan Kidwelly| after = James Hobart}} |- {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hody, William}} Category:1524 deaths Category:15th-century English judges Category:16th-century English judges Category:English MPs 1472 Category:Chief Barons of the Exchequer Category:Attorneys general for England and Wales William Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:English MPs 1483 Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Totnes