Biographical entry: Hopkins, Arthur Innes (1869 - 1943)

Born: 1869
Died: 1943

Details

Arthur Hopkins was the pioneer European missionary at Ngorefou, north Malaita, from 1902 until 1925, retiring in 1926. Born in 1869, he was weakened by illness while a child and was small in stature. He was educated at St. Peter's School in York and at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge University, where he earned a B.A. in 1891. He was ordained a deacon (1892) and then a priest (1893), working at Cottingham and Braffterton near York. Recruited for the Melanesia Mission (q.v.) in 1900, he joined the Southern Cross (q.v.) in Sydney to travel to Norfolk Island where he taught for two years before being posted to northeast Malaita (1902-1914) at Ngorefou. There his life was under threat and two of his local teachers, Thomas Amasia and James Ivo, were killed in 1904. He completed extensive translation of the Bible and liturgical services into Lau and Kwara'ae languages. Hopkins returned to Norfolk Island (1915-1919) and was then sent to Maravovo (1919-1921) and to Siota Theological College (1921-1925) before becoming Secretary for the Melanesian Mission in London (1926-1929). His major publication was In the Isles of King Solomon (1928). He died in 1943. (Hopkins 1904b, 1922, 1928, 1949, 2004; Fox 1958, 244; Hilliard 1978a, 299)

Published resources

Books

Fox, Charles E., Lord of the Southern Isles: Being the Story of the Anglican Mission in Melanesia, 1849-1949, Mowbray, London, 1958. Details
Hilliard, David, God's Gentleman: A History of the Melanesian Mission, 1849-1942, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1978a. Details
Hopkins, Arthur I., In the Isles of King Solomon: An Account of Twenty-Five Years Spent Amongst the Primitive Solomon Islanders, Seeley, Service and Company, London, 1928. Details
Hopkins, Arthur I., From Heathen Boy to Christian Priest, S.P.C.K., London, 1949. Details

Book Sections

Hopkins, Arthur I., 'Depopulation in the Solomon Islands', in W.H.R. Rivers (ed.), Essays on the Depopulation of Melanesia, Cambridge University Press, London, 1922, pp. 62-66. Details

Journal Articles

Hopkins, Arthur I., 'The Reef Dwellers of the Solomons', Southern Cross Log, December 1904, pp. 6-10. Details

Manuscripts

Hopkins, Arthur I., Autobiopgraphy, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau and the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, 2004, 78 pp. Details