Fred T. (Frederick Thomas) Hodgson

Born in Yorkshire in 1832 and later active in Ontario, Frederick Thomas Hodgson worked as a surveyor, builder, and eventually an architect. Reference sources on Canadian architecture place him in Collingwood, Ontario, and note that he emigrated to Upper Canada in 1847.

As an author, he became widely associated with practical manuals for the building trades. Library and public-domain book records credit him with works on carpentry, timber framing, stair-building, cabinetmaking, masonry, finishing, and house design, including The Practical Cabinet Maker and Furniture Designer's Assistant, Modern Carpentry, and The Carpenter's Cyclopedia.

His books stand out for their straightforward, instructional approach. Rather than writing for a literary audience, he wrote to help readers solve real workshop and job-site problems, which helps explain why his manuals continued to circulate long after their original publication.