Livingston Hopkins
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Livingston York Yourtee "Hop" Hopkins (7 July 1846 – 21 August 1927)B. G. Andrews,

, ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 421-422. Retrieved 2 August 2009
was an American-born
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
who became a major figure in Australian cartooning during the period surrounding the
Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...
. He is best known for his work with '' The Bulletin''. He is also notable for drawing one of the earliest
newspaper comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...
s, ''Professor Tigwissel's Burglar Alarm''.


Early life

Hopkins was born in
Bellefontaine, Ohio Bellefontaine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Logan County, Ohio, Logan County, Ohio, United States, located 48 miles (77 km) northwest of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 13,370 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 Cens ...
, son of Daniel Hopkins (1800–1849), surveyor, and his wife Sarah, ''née Carter''. He was the thirteenth of 14 children. His family were Methodists, and his upbringing was somewhat hard and puritanical. When his father died, his mother was left with a home and a small estate. The boy went to the district school, and from the age of 14 years worked at various avocations until 1864 when he enlisted in the 130th Ohio Volunteer Regiment to fight in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
when 17 years old. He had very little active service, as the regiment's term of service was only three months.


Career in the United States

After the war Hopkins went to
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
, where some sketches he had made were shown to the proprietor of the
Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue o ...
. As a result, he was engaged as an
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
, which led to an appointment on Scribner's Weekly. During this engagement he had a few months training in drawing. Hopkins then went to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where some of his drawings were accepted by ''Judge'' and the New York ''
Daily Graphic ''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication ...
'', and he also wrote and illustrated ''A Comic History of United States''. This was published in good time for the centennial celebrations in 1876, but in the patriotism of the time the book was unfavourably reviewed, and it was a failure. Hopkins married Harriet Augusta Commager on 9 June 1875 in Toledo and they had three children. Hopkins published in '' Puck'' and continued his
freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
work for a period of 13 years and did a large amount of work for '' St. Nicholas Magazine'' and for the Harper publications, the '' Weekly'', the ''
Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
'', the ''
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'' and ''Young People''. He was also commissioned to illustrate editions of ''Don Quixote'', ''Gulliver's Travels'', ''Baron Munchausen'', and ''Knickerbocker's History of New York''. Towards the end of 1882
William Henry Traill William Henry Traill (7 May 1842 – 21 May 1902) was an Australian journalist and politician, commonly referred to as W. H. Traill. He was an early editor and for a period the principal proprietor of '' The Bulletin'' in Sydney.''Sydney Morning ...
called on him and offered him a two-year
contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
as cartoonist on '' The Bulletin'' in Australia. The offer was accepted.


Life in Australia

Hopkins arrived in Sydney on 9 February 1883 with his family and worked for ''The Bulletin'' until his retirement in 1913. A constant stream of clever illustrations came from his pen, and he contributed not a little to the power wielded by ''The Bulletin'' in its most vigorous days. A selection of his drawings was published in 1904 under the title of ''On the Hop''. Among his best known creations were the
Little Boy from Manly The Little Boy from Manly was a national personification of New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country ...
in April 1885, "I thought I had a stamp", and the many
George Reid Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales f ...
drawings. Reproductions of three of his etchings show that he had an excellent sense of the capabilities of that medium. He also occasionally painted in oil or water-colours. After 1913 the volume of his work for ''The Bulletin'' gradually diminished, but he kept his interest in the journal of which he was now part-
proprietor Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...
and
director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
. He busied himself with making violins, gardening, music and playing
bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
. He died on 21 August 1927 at
Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...
, Sydney, aged 81 and was survived by a son and four daughters.


References

*


External links

*
Portrait, National Library of Australia
Biographical Page, National Library of Australia.
Australian political cartooning - a rich tradition
Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Livingston 1846 births 1927 deaths American cartoonists Australian cartoonists American caricaturists American comics artists Australian caricaturists Australian comics artists American emigrants to Australia People of Ohio in the American Civil War People from Bellefontaine, Ohio Burials at Rookwood Cemetery