Guide to the Papers of John Hope Hopetoun, 7th Earl of Hopetoun (as filmed by the AJCP), 1881-1904

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Summary

Collection number:

M936 - M937, M1154 - M1156, M1584

Creator:

Hope, John Adrian Louis, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow

Extent:

265 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Background

Content Summary:

Papers and correspondence 1881-1904, dealing with various subjects such as: Federation; Victorian and federal politics; the South African War; programs for the Royal visit 1901; Imperial penny postage; official postings; honours; site of the Governor-General's house and his allowances; Hopetoun's appointments as Governor and Governor-General; and his resignation in 1902. Principal correspondents include Sir Edmund Barton, Thomas Bavin, Rear Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont, Lord Carrington, Joseph Chamberlain, Alfred Deakin, Sir John Forrest, Sir Samuel Griffith, General Sir Edward Hutton, Sir Francis Knollys, Lord Knutsford, Sir Henry Loch, James Patterson, Lord Ripon, Sir William Robinson, Lord Rosebery, Lord Salisbury, William Shields, William Syme, Lord Tennyson, Sir George Verdon, Capt. E.W. Wallington and Sir Hartley Williams.

Miscellaneous items including: a portrait of Sir Henry Parkes; the commission and letters patent appointing Hopetoun Governor of Victoria; printed speeches; a copy of Sir Henry Parkes' Federation Scheme; the program of Hopetoun's farewell banquet in London in 1900; addresses of welcome 1900-01; items relating to the celebration of Federation January 1901; and a copy of The Landing of Lieutenant James Cook, RN, at Botany Bay (1901).

Correspondence of Hopetoun's private secretary and accountant in Australia, David W. Brown, containing in-letters 1900-02, copies of out-letters 1902, and accounts and receipts 1902.

Correspondence 1853-1901 including letters of congratulation on appointment as Governor of Victoria and letters concerning Capt. Herbert Waterlow. Correspondents include J.F. McCarron, Lord Kintore, Lord Knutsford and the Prince of Wales.

Accounts 1889-94 of Government House, Melbourne.

Accounts, cheque book stubs and other financial papers 1901-02.

Album of cuttings and sketches 1887-91.

Sketchbook, including watercolours, 1900-02.

Newspaper cuttings 1901-02.

Album of photographs of Victoria in the 1890s.

Album of photographs of Melbourne waterworks and reservoirs 1895.

Scrapbook 1901 containing cuttings, programs, menus and other items relating to the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Biographical / Historical:

John Adrian Louis Hope (1860-1908), 7th Earl of Hopetoun (succeeded 1873), 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (created 1902), was born at Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh. He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but did not enter the Army. In 1883 he was appointed Conservative whip in the House of Lords and in 1885 was made a lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. In 1886 he married Hersey Moleyns, the daughter of Lord Ventry.

In 1889 Lord Knutsford, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, appointed Hopetoun as Governor of Victoria and he held the post until March 1895. Although it was a time of economic depression, he entertained extravagantly, but his youthful enthusiasm and fondness for horseback tours of country districts won him considerable popularity. His term coincided with the first federation conferences and he supported the federation movement strongly.

In 1895-98 Hopetoun was paymaster-general in the government of Lord Salisbury. In 1898 Joseph Chamberlain, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, offered him the post of Governor-General of Canada, but he declined. He was appointed Lord Chamberlain in 1898 and had a close association with members of the Royal Family.

In July 1900 Hopetoun was appointed the first Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. He arrived in Sydney on 15 December 1900 and his first task was to appoint the head of the new Commonwealth ministry. He invited William Lyne, the Premier of New South Wales, but Lyne had been lukewarm about federation and was not supported by the leading federationists. Hopetoun then approached Edmund Barton who accepted the offer. On 1 January 1901 Hopetoun took the oaths of allegiance and then swore in Barton and the other ministers.Hopetoun was a central figure in the federation celebrations in January 1901 and at the opening of the Commonwealth Parliament in May 1901. He was an effective manager of the three month tour of the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V). There were, however, inevitable strains in federal-state relations and he was not popular with some of the governors. He found the office a drain on his private income and he was humiliated in May 1902 when Parliament rejected Barton's proposal that he receive an additional allowance of £8000. Hopetoun asked Chamberlain to recall him and he left Australia in July 1902. On his return to England he was made Marquess of Linlithgow.

Linlithgow was briefly Secretary of Scotland in 1905, but his health was declining and he died three years later. His eldest son, who succeeded to the title, was Viceroy of India in 1936-43.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.