Biographical note

Manley Hopkins was born on July 9, 1818, to Martin Edward and Ann Manley Hopkins. He married Catherine Smith on August 8, 1843, and they had nine children: Gerard Manley (1844-1889), Cyril (1846-1932), Arthur (1848-1930), Milicent (1850-1846), Felix (1852-1853), Lionel Charles (1854-1952), Kate (1856-1933), Grace (1858-1945), and Everard (1860-1928).

Hopkins worked in the marine insurance industry as an average adjuster throughout his life, and published multiple manuals on the subject. He became involved with diplomatic and missionary relations between the Kingdom of Hawaii and Great Britain in the 1850s at the encouragement of his brother, Charles Gordon Hopkins. He was appointed as Consul General in London for the Hawaiian government in 1856, a position he held for approximately forty years. With the support of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, he became a leading figure in the establishment of an Anglican Church in Hawaii. He wrote a history of Hawaii based on his own research and experiences, titled Hawaii: the past, present, and future of its island-kingdom, first published in 1862, with a revised edition in 1866. As part of his service, he accompanied Queen Emma and others on their diplomatic visit to England in 1865, and he supervised the education of a number of young Hawaiians attending English universities.

Hopkins was also a prolific poet, and his publications include A Philosopher’s Stone and Other Poems (1843), Pietas Metrica (1849), and Spicelegium Poeticum, A Gathering of Verses by Manley Hopkins (1892).

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