FORM 4

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

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                  STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP

Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section
17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(h) of the
Investment Company Act of 1940

================================================================================

1.  Name (Last, First Middle) and Address of Reporting Person*

        Robinson, Huse L.
        No. 9 Azalea Lane
        Amory, MS 38821

2.  Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol

        The Peoples Holding Company (PHC)

3.  IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an entity (Voluntary)

        ###-##-####

4.  Statement for Month/Day/Year

        January 1, 2003

5.  If Amendment, Date of Original  (Month/Day/Year)

6.  Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)

        (   ) Director                   (  ) 10% Owner
        ( X ) Officer (give title below) (  ) Other (specify below)

          Executive Vice President
           _________________________

7.  Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
        ( X ) Form filed by One Reporting Person
        (   ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person

====================================================================================================================================
Table I - - Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
====================================================================================================================================

+-------------------+------------+-------------+----------+------------------------------+----------------+-----------+------------+
|1. Title of        |2. Trans-   |2a.Deemed   |3. Trans-  | 4.Securities Acquired (A)    |5. Amount of    | 6.Owner-  |7. Nature of|
|   Security        |   action   |   Execution|   action  |   or Disposed of (D)         |   Securities   |   ship    |   Indirect |
|                   |   Date     |   Date, if |   Code    |   (Instr.3,4 and 5)          |   Beneficially |   Form:   |   Bene-    |
|   (Instr.3)       |            |   any      |  (Instr.8)|                              |   Owned Follow-|   Direct  |   ficial   |
]                   |            |            |-----------+------------------------------|   ing Reported |   (D) or  |   Owner-   |
|                   |            |            |      |    |            |      |          |   Transaction  |   Indirect|   ship     |
|                   |            |            |      |    |            |(A)or |          |   (s)(Instr.3  |   (I)     |            |
|                   |(Mo/Dy/Yr)  |  (Mo/Dy/Yr)| Code | V  |   Amount   |(D)   |  Price   |    and 4)      |  (Instr.4)| (Instr.4)  |
- --------------------+------------+------------+-----------+------------+------+----------+----------------+-----------+------------+

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities benefically owned directly or indirectly.

*If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 4(b)(v).

 Persons who respond to the collection of information contained in this are not required to respond unless the form displays a
 currently valid OMB control number.

FORM 4 (Continued)

====================================================================================================================================
TABLE II - - Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
             (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)
====================================================================================================================================

+-----------------------------+--------------+-----------+---------------+--------------+-------------------+----------------------+
|1. Title of Derivative       | 2. Convers-  | 3. Trans- | 3A.Deemed     | 4. Transact- | 5. Number of      | 6. Date Exercisable  |
|   Security                  |    ion or    |    action |    Execution  |    ion Code  |    Derivative     |    and Expiration    |
|   (Instr.3)                 |    Exercise  |    Date   |    Date, if   |    (Instr.8) |    Securities     |    Date              |
|                             |    Price of  |           |    any        |              |    Acquired (A) or|    (Month/Day/Year)  |
|                             |    Derivative|           |               |              |    Disposed of    |                      |
|                             |    Security  |           |               |              |    (D)(Instr. 3,4,|                      |
|                             |              |           |               |              |    and 5)         +-----------+----------|
|                             |              |           |               +-------+------+---------+---------| Date Exer-| Expira-  |
|                             |              |(Mo/Dy/Yr) |   (Mo/Dy/Yr)  |  Code |  V   |  (A)    |   (D)   | cisable   | tion Date|
+-----------------------------+--------------+-----------+---------------+-------+------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
                                                                                             
|Employee Stock Option (Right |              |           |               |       |      |         |         |           |          |
|to buy)                      |   $35.20     |01/01/2002 |               |  A    |  V   | 3,500   |         |   (1)     |   (1)    |
|                             |              |           |               |       |      |         |         |           |          |
|Employee Stock Option (Right |              |           |               |       |      |         |         |           |          |
|to buy)                      |   $42.23     |01/01/2003 |               |  A    |  V   | 3,500   |         |   (1)     |   (1)    |
+-----------------------------+--------------+-----------+---------------+-------+------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+

+--------------------------------------+---------------------+---------------------+----------------------+------------------------+
|7.  Title and Amount of Underlying    |8. Price of Deriv-   | 9. Number of Deriv- | 10. Ownership Form   | 11. Nature of Indirect |
|    Securities                        |   ative Security    |    ative Securities |     of Derivative    |     Beneficial         |
|    (Instr. 3 and 4)                  |   (Instr.5)         |    Beneficially     |     Security:        |     Ownership          |
+-----------------+--------------------+                     |    Owned Following  |     Direct(D) or     |     (Instr. 4)         |
|      Title      |  Amount or Number  |                     |    Reported         |     Indirect (I)     |                        |
|                 |  of Shares         |                     |    Transaction(s)   |     (Instr.4)        |                        |
|                 |                    |                     |    (Instr.4)        |                      |                        |
+-----------------+--------------------+---------------------+---------------------+----------------------+------------------------+
                                                                                           
|Common Stock     |   3,500            |                     |                     |          D           |                        |
|                 |                    |                     |                     |                      |                        |
|Common Stock     |   3,500            |                     |       7,000         |          D           |                        |
+-----------------+--------------------+---------------------+---------------------+----------------------+------------------------+
Explanation of Responses:

(1) Equal installments of 33 1/3 % of the option shares granted will become exercisable on the completion of one, two and three
    years of service measured from the grant date, respectively. These options expire ten (10) years from the grant date.

/s/ Huse L. Robinson                            January 2, 2003
___________________________________             ________________________________
**Signature of Reporting Person                 Date

** Intentional  misstatements or omissions of facts constitute  Federal Criminal
Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).

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