Born in 1829 or 1830, the eldest son of George Bodington, of Sutton Coldfield, the well-known pioneer in the outdoor treatment of tuberculosis, whose claim to fame was brought forward by Dr Tucker Wise, in 1902, who drew attention to his work on *The Treatment and Cure of Pulmonary Consumption* in 1840 (see *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1902, i, 447). George Fowler Bodington was educated at Queen's College, Birmingham. After qualifying he held the post of House Surgeon at Queen's Hospital, Birmingham, and then, as a ship's surgeon, visited Natal and India. He spent some time practising his profession in the back settlements of Pietermaritzburg, where his fees were paid him in elephants' tusks, of which he brought away some hundreds of pounds' worth as the fruits of about eight months' work. At that time the elephant still roamed the forests of Natal, and life there suited Bodington's hardy frame and adventurous disposition. He might have made his mark in those primitive regions, but he preferred to return to England, where he married and settled in practice at Kenilworth in partnership with his uncle, William Bodington (qv). He removed to Middlesbrough-on-Tees in 1866, where he was Surgeon to the North Riding Infirmary, and to Saltburn, where he remained till he was summoned to take the management of a private asylum which his father had established at Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. The asylum was prosperous, and Bodington, being only about seven miles from the great Midland city, was brought into touch with its 'vivid medical life'. He became an active member of its medical societies and took a leading part in establishing the Birmingham Medical Institute, of which he was an early President. He was President of the Birmingham and Midland Branch of the British Medical Association in 1876, and was full of activity, taking an immense interest in all that made for social and political progress. He associated himself in particular with Donald Dalrymple in the movement to obtain legislation for the care and control of inebriates. The asylum, owing to the falling in of the lease, was removed to Ashwood House, Kingswinford, Staffs, and here the second Mrs Bodington, whom he married at this time, fell into ill health and so continued for several years. This set Bodington to seek a new home for his family; he sold the asylum, and after some wanderings eventually settled in British Columbia, where he bought a farm and started in practice, not, apparently, with much success. The march of Western civilization brought with it insanity, and Bodington was appointed in 1895 Medical Superintendent of Provincial Asylum, New Westminster, BC, a large new state lunatic asylum. Here, though not in robust health, he achieved great results and popularity. He resigned after six years of most arduous toil, during the greater part of which he was in sole charge of the asylum. The Government of British Columbia voted him a retiring allowance in recognition of his services, and he came back to England the year before his death. At the last he settled in Paris, where his son, Mr Oliver Bodington, was well known in the Anglo-American Colony. His death occurred in Paris, after a very short illness, on May 8th, 1902. He was then a widower and was survived by a large family of children settled in Europe and Canada. He was a Member of the Medico-Psychological Association of Great Britain. He is described by his biographers as a man of magnificent physique and fine presence, a delightful companion, and an enthusiastic man of letters. Publication: "Restraint in the Treatment of Insanity," 8vo, Birmingham, 1878; reprinted from *Birm. Med. Rev.*, 1878.