J. Castell Hopkins

John Castell Hopkins (April 1, 1864 – November 5, 1923) was a Canadian journalist, author, and encyclopedist known for his strongly pro-British imperialist views. Over a career spanning three decades, he produced around 40 books and pamphlets on Canadian history and current affairs. Hopkins edited Canada: An Encyclopædia of the Country (1898–1900), the first encyclopaedia of Canada, and was the founding editor of the Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs from 1901 until his death in 1923.

Early life and education

Hopkins was born in Dyersville, Iowa, to British parents, and moved as a child with his family to Bowmanville, Ontario, where he was educated. In 1883 he began working as a clerk for the Imperial Bank of Canada, first in Bowmanville and from 1889 in Toronto. During the mid-1880s he became active in the Imperial Federation League, helping to found its Ontario branch in Ingersoll in 1886. By 1888 he was an honorary secretary of the League's Dominion branch. Hopkins also sought a literary career, and in 1887 solicited support from intellectual Goldwin Smith, who encouraged him but declined to participate in his projects.

Journalism

In the early 1890s, Hopkins joined the staff of the Toronto Empire, a Conservative daily, where he rose from clerk to associate editor. He resigned in 1894 to work as an independent writer and publicist, shortly before the paper merged with the Mail to form the Mail and Empire. His early writings and pamphlets strongly advocated Imperial Federation and warned against American influence over Canada.