Frances Anne Hopkins

Frances Anne Hopkins (2 February 1838 – 5 March 1919) was a British painter. She was the third of Frederick William Beechey's five children. In 1858, she married a Hudson's Bay Company official, Edward Hopkins, whose work took him to North America. Hopkins travelled alongside with him. While sailing, she was able to sketch extensively, therefore, capturing a now lost way of living – the last days of the fur trade.

Hopkins was active in the field of painting, during the 1860s and '70s. Her best-known works are several large paintings made from her sketches. She portrayed a voyageur's life in the mid-nineteenth century. Hopkins, however, remained unknown not until recently. At the same time, considering that, she was an artist placed in a context where gender-imposed restrictions were prevalent. In fact, Frances Anne Hopkins was dubbed as a woman who "staked out an identity based on difference: a woman in a group of men.” Her works were featured at exhibitions of the Art Association of Montreal, followed by, eleven exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London.

The Hopkins’ family soon returned to England in 1870 where she lived until her death. Hopkins was an artist able to record an important aspect of Canadian history.

Frances Anne Hopkins was the daughter of Frederick William Beechey, a hydrographer and a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, and Charlotte Stapleton. She was born in London, England on February 2, 1838.

Hopkins was from an upper middle-class family. There is a question whether her status had granted her access to education. She came from a family of artists and Arctic explorers. His father Sir Frederick was a water-colourist. Hopkin's aunt Anne Phyllis Beechey who was also known as Lady Beechey was a miniaturist. Her grandfather Sir William Beechey was also a portrait painter and a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. This conjecture of gaining an education, however, has not been supported by any existing records. Hopkins’ paintings and drawings, although, suggest an exemplify of trained artistry, possibly at home.

At an early age, she married Edward Martin Hopkins, a Hudson's Bay Company Secretary Governor at St. Saviour's Church, Paddington, London. He was previously married to Anne Ogden, they had three children together before she died of cholera. His husband's work would bring her on a journey that would provide subjects for her art pieces.

Frances Anne Hopkins and her husband Edward Hopkins, along with Edward’s three sons from a previous marriage, moved to Lachine, Lower Canada shortly after their marriage in 1858. The Hopkins family moved to Lachine, as Edward worked there as a secretary for Sir George Simpson, the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s North American operations.

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