STOPPS, Arthur James (1835-1931) — Melbourne & Sydney
Artist, draughtsman and lithographer. Produced Outline chart shewing the lines of electric telegraph in the colony of Victoria 1859; George Austin Woods, The Albert River disjoint survey 1862; Map showing Howitt’s tracks 1862; John Darbyshire, Township of Rutherglen, parish of Carlyle 1862, with Robert Meikle; James A. C. Willis, County of Harden, New South Wales 1864; J. A. C. Willis, Part of the police district of Binalong 1864; W. Freeman, Map of King’s County 1868. Also known for his water-colours, lithographic views, and his work on Robert David Fitzgerald, ‘Australian orchids’ 1874-1894.
According to official Australian records, he was born in Devon 17 Nov 1835, although it seems clear that he only adopted the forename Arthur after his arrival in Australia and was actually baptised Joseph James Stopps at St. Mary Putney, London, 28 Dec 1834, the son of Joseph Stopps, a butler, and his wife Dorothy Emes Stephens (1794-1849), who had married in 1827. He trained under the artist and lithographer William Spreat (1816-1897) of Exeter, whose ‘Picturesque sketches of the churches of Devon’ was published in 1842, which makes it unlikely that Stopps was as much involved as has been claimed (see below). The 1851 census records him, as Joseph J. Stopps from Putney, resident with Spreat as an apprentice of sixteen in Exeter. He arrived in Melbourne, still as Joseph James Stopps, on the Joseph Tarratt from Liverpool, 30 Apr 1856. He was was soon employed by James Stirling Campbell and his partner James Fergusson and exhibited at the Victorian Exhibition of Art at Melbourne in 1856. After temporary positions in government employment, he joined the Surveyor General’s Office in New South Wales 9 Sep 1862, becoming Chief Draughtsman 1 Jul 1896 and retiring on a pension 20 Jul 1909. He married Agnes Allen (1843?-1927) at St. John’s Darlinghurst 11 Nov 1865. He died 18 Sep 1931 and was buried at the Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde. His will left the bulk of his estate (valued at £1,686.11s.7d) to two daughters, with further provisions for a long-term servant, grandchildren, etc. “Mr Arthur James Stopps died at his home at Hunter’s Hill on Friday, in his 99th year. He was a retired officer of the old Surveyor-General’s Department. Mr Stopps was a native of Devonshire. When quite a lad his artistic capabilities attracted the attention of William Spreatt [sic], a well-known artist, to whom he subsequently became a pupil, and who produced a famous volume of illustrations of the churches of Devonshire. Several of these were the work of Stopps. He came to Sydney in 1863, and acquired land at Hunter’s Hill, where he built a home which he occupied to the end of his life. In 1864 he was appointed a draughtsman in the Surveyor General’s Department. The Surveyor-General was the late Mr. R. D. FitzGerald, who in 1875, published the first part of a well-known work, ‘Australian Orchids’. The drawings were copied by lithographic process and Mr. Stopps’s pre-eminence in that class of art being recognised, sanction was given by the Government to his doing the work in his private time. The publication was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. For a short time Mr. Stopps was acting Surveyor-General. He retired in 1909, after 45 years’ service. Seven or eight years ago his sight failed completely. Mr. Stopps’s wife died several years ago. He is survived by two daughters” (Sydney Morning Herald, 21 Sep 1931).
54 Collins Street East, Melbourne — 1858-1859
— Stanley Road, Hunter’s Hill, New South Wales (home) — 1863-1931
DAAO. Darragh. LHD. NLA. Tooley. Trove.