Frances Anne Hopkins (February 2, 1838 – March 5, 1919) was a British painter. She was the third of Frederick William Beechey's five children. In 1858, she married a Hudson's Bay Company official, Edward Hopkins, whose work took him to North America. Hopkins travelled along with him. While sailing, she was able to sketch extensively, therefore, capturing a now lost way of living – the last days of the fur trade. Hopkins painted actively during the 1860s and '70s. Her best-known works are several large paintings made from her sketches. She portrayed a voyageur's life in the mid-nineteenth century. Hopkins, however, remained relatively unknown until recently. At the same time, considering that, she was an artist placed in a context where gender-imposed restrictions were prevalent. In fact, Frances Anne Hopkins was dubbed as a woman who "staked out an identity based on difference: a woman in a group of men." Her works were featured at exhibitions of the Art Association of Montreal, followed by, eleven exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London. The Hopkins family returned to England in 1870 where she lived until her death. Hopkins was an artist able to record an important aspect of Canadian history. Early personal life Frances Anne Hopkins was born in London, England to Frederick William Beechey, a hydrographer and a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, and Charlotte Stapleton on February 2, 1838. Hopkins was from an upper-middle-class family. She came from a family of artists and Arctic explorers. Her father Sir Frederick was a water-colourist. Hopkin's aunt Anne Phyllis Beechey who was also known as Lady Beechey was a miniaturist. Her grandfather Sir William Beechey was also a portrait painter and a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. Hopkins' paintings and drawings suggest artistic training, but this may have been at home rather than in formal schooling. At 20, she married Edward Martin Hopkins, the Hudson's Bay Company Governor-General's secretary, at St. Saviour's Church, Paddington, London. Edward Hopkins already had three children from his late wife, Anne (Ogden), who had died of cholera. Her husband's work would bring her on a journey that would provide subjects for her art pieces. Life in Canada The Hopkins, along with Edward's three previous sons, moved to Lachine, Lower Canada shortly after their marriage in 1858. The Hopkins family moved to Lachine, as Edward worked there as secretary to Sir George Simpson, the Hudson's