William Hopwood

William Hopwood (1784-1853), was the son of James Hopwood (d. 1819), a prominent printmaker who arrived in London in 1797 and began working for James Heath. In 1813 he became secretary of the Artists’ Benevolent Fund, a position he held until 1818, when ill health forced his retirement; he died the following year. His two sons, William and James, Jr. (b. c. 1795), continued his work as printmakers. Most likely the Mr. Hopwood who appears in Eliza Fenwick’s letters is William. Both he and his brother exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, with William primarily specializing in book illustrations. The National Gallery, London, has numerous prints by Hopwood between 1800 and 1832. According to Fenwick's letters to Hays, Hopwood's daughter, Patty, attended school for a time c. 1812 under the teaching of Elizabeth Dunkin Francis (1787-1825), Mary Hays’s niece. He also took an interest in the drawings of Orlando Fenwick during his time at Mr. Wilkinson's school near Wandsworth in 1812.