Dod (Dodd), Charles Roger Phipps (1793–1855), journalist and author, was born 8 May 1793 in Drumlease, Co. Leitrim, the only son of Rev. Roger Dod, vicar of Drumlease, and his wife Margaret (née Phipps). He entered the King's Inns 30 July 1816, but abandoned his legal studies for journalism. Emigrating to England, he was for a time part owner and editor of a provincial newspaper, before he was employed by The Times in 1818 to edit and supervise parliamentary reporting. He was with The Times for twenty-three years, and under his supervision reports on parliamentary debates were greatly improved. He built up an encyclopaedic knowledge of the lives of political figures and was renowned in journalistic circles for his ability to write informative obituaries.
In 1833 he saw a market for the Parliamentary pocket companion, a work which was continually updated to record changes in government and personnel. It constituted an important (if not always reliable) source for the biographies and changing party allegiances of members of parliament in both the historical and contemporary contexts. He saw the need for a similar record for the peerage which resulted in Peerage, baronage and knightage (1841). In 1842, probably inspired by his obituary writing for The Times, he wrote the Annual Biography; just one volume was published. From 1843 he left the running of the Parliamentary companion to his son, Robert Phipps Dod, a former army officer. After Robert's death in 1865 from a wound sustained in a hunting accident, the work became Dod's parliamentary companion. Charles Dod also wrote A manual of dignities (1842) and Electoral facts from 1832 to 1852 (1852).
For most of his life he generally spelt his name Dodd but in 1847 changed to Dod, resuming the proper name of his father and his ancestors, the Dods of Cloverley, Shropshire. On 24 October 1814 he married Jane Eliza Baldwin of Cork; they had one son. Charles Dod died 21 February 1855 at his home, 5 Foxley Road, North Brixton, Surrey.