John Page Hopps (6 November 1834 – 6 April 1911) was a Unitarian minister and

spiritualist Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least ...

.Watts, Michael R. (2015). ''The Dissenters: Volume III: The Crisis and Conscience of Nonconformity''. Oxford University Press. pp. 37-38. Hopps was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was educated at the General Baptist College,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. He worked as

George Dawson George Dawson may refer to: Politicians * George Dawson (Northern Ireland politician) (1961–2007), Northern Ireland politician * George Walker Wesley Dawson (1858–1936), Canadian politician * George Oscar Dawson (1825–1865), Georgia poli ...

's assistant at the Church of the Saviour, Birmingham and from 1860 to 1876 he ministered to Unitarians. He was a minister at the Unitarian Church in Bath Street,

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. Hopps was a convinced spiritualist and was influenced by

William Howitt William Howitt (18 December 1792 – 3 March 1879), was a prolific English writer on history and other subjects. Howitt Primary Community School in Heanor, Derbyshire, is named after him and his wife. Biography Howitt was born in Heanor, Derbysh ...

and

C. F. Varley Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, FRSA (6 April 1828 – 2 September 1883) was an English engineer, particularly associated with the development of the electric telegraph and the transatlantic telegraph cable. He also took interest in the claims of p ...

. He had unified his unitarianism with spiritualism by arguing the

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was a record of spirit communication. In a lecture for the

London Spiritualist Alliance The College of Psychic Studies (founded in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance) is a non-profit organisation based in South Kensington, London. It is dedicated to the study of psychic and spiritualist phenomena. History British National Ass ...

, Hopps supported biological

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

and spiritualism. He created and edited the monthly periodical ''The Truthseeker'' (1863-1887). Hopps also edited a spiritualist newspaper ''Daybreak'', which was absorbed into the weekly spiritualist newspaper ''The Medium and Daybreak'' of James Burns. In 1886 his "Letter to a Radical Member of Parliament" advocating women's suffrage was published in the Manchester-based ''

Women's Suffrage Journal The ''Women's Suffrage Journal'' was a magazine founded in England by Lydia Becker and Jessie Boucherett in 1870. It carried news of events affecting all areas of women's lives, and particularly focused on features that demonstrated the breadth ...

''. In it he wrote, "I do not believe that women would hinder progress. I think that as oquestions relating to peace and war, social purity, and the doing of equal justice to all, they would help us on. But if the reverse were the case, what right have we to deny them the suffrage for ''that'' reason? Who is the infallible judge as to what 'progress' is, and who gave that judge the right to have ''his'' way?"

Publications

''The Future Life''
(1884)
''Pilgrim Songs With Other poems Written During Forty Years''
(1891) *''Who Was Jehovah?'' (1891)
''Death a Delusion''
(1895)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopps, John Page 1834 births 1911 deaths English spiritualists English Unitarian ministers