William Bodkin (judge)

Sir William Henry Bodkin (5 August 1791 – 26 March 1874) was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1841 to 1847, before becoming a judge.

Bodkin was the son of Peter Bodkin from Galway and his wife Sarah. His father's family had long connections with County Galway.

He was educated at the Islington Academy and called to the bar in 1826 at Gray's Inn.

Bodkin initially practised on the Home Circuit, taking mostly criminal cases at the Middlesex, Westminster and Kent Sessions, and in the Central Criminal Court in the Old Bailey. was appointed as a recorder of Dover in 1834.

He was elected at the 1841 general election as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Rochester in Kent, winning the seat by a margin of only two votes over the Liberal Party candidate Viscount Melgund. Bodkin was defeated at the 1847 general election as a result of his support for the free trade measures introduced by Sir Robert Peel. He did not stand at the 1852 general election, but unsuccessfully contested the borough at a by-election in February 1856.

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