Discovering the curious life of Stud Hodgson through records

The road to Stud Hodgson was a long one for archival historian and author Barbara Minchinton. 

It was while working with archaeologists studying the contents of Little Lon’s cesspits that she was initially inspired to write about the sex workers and brothel owners of inner-city Melbourne. 

That work led her to research Melbourne’s most famous local madame of the 19th century, Caroline Hodgson, known as Madame Brussels, and the better-than-fiction fact that her first husband was called ‘Stud’. 

After publishing several books, The Women of Little Lon in 2021 and Madame Brussels in 2024, Barbara turned her attention back to Stud and patiently sifted through the records of Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) at the Victorian Archives Centre in North Melbourne.

Who was Stud Hodgson?

Stud Hodgson was born into a genteel family of British army careerists with a scattering of aristocratic titles. Yet Stud sought a life in the colonies. 

In the 1850s, long before he met his blushing but enterprising bride Caroline, Stud worked on a pastoral station in New England. His employer on the station wrote a letter saying he ‘could not put up with Stud’s ways’.  

Barbara says: ‘I spent a lot of time trying to work out what that meant, but we were in Covid lockdown and PROV was closed, so I wrote Madame Brussels’ biography without finding an answer. When the archives opened again it was sheer curiosity that drove me on another deep dive into the police records.’

A life revealed through police correspondence records 

Barbara found a wealth of information in the Inward Registered Correspondence of Victoria Police (VPRS 937), which led her on a journey through various series across the collection. 

‘Stud spent 20 years as a policeman in country Victoria while his wife ran Melbourne’s most expensive brothel, and every police report he ever wrote is in VPRS 937. Following particular cases took me into criminal trial briefs (VPRS 30), wills and probates (VPRS 7591 and 28), inquests (VPRS 24) and many other series. I followed a lot of trails, some dead ends, and some rich journeys, but the magic came in a file that covered the discovery by the Chief Commissioner of Police that his lowly constable in Echuca was married to the woman running a very troublesome brothel in North Melbourne.’

A Stud and a Madame

Stud first met Caroline in a boarding house in London in 1871 on a brief trip home to England. Stud must have been itching to get back to Australia, as they quickly married and moved to Melbourne to start their lives as Mr and Mrs Hodgson. 

Barbara says the marriage didn't last long after they arrived in Melbourne and Stud joined the police force. He rode away to the country as a mounted trooper leaving Caroline to make her living as an independent businesswoman.

Barbara kept digging into the Victorian public records collection until her curiosity was finally satisfied.

‘The police correspondence records show how Stud grew and changed as a man, and in the process explain both his early employer’s remark, and the failure of his marriage.’ 
 

Madame Brussels’ Husband: The Curious Solitary Life of Stud Hodgson

In her new book, Madame Brussels’ Husband: The Curious Solitary Life of Stud Hodgson, Barbara brings Stud’s story to life using everything she learned from the records in PROV’s collection.   

‘After a decade of research on Madame Brussels and her husband I am ready to move on from their lives, but not from PROV. It remains the centre of my research life.’

Learn more about Barbara Minchinton’s new book, out now through Australian Scholarly Publishing.