Queer Places:
New Ipswich Cemetery, 10 Cemetery Ln, Ipswich IP4 2TQ, United Kingdom

Robert Thurston Hopkins (1884 – May 23, 1958) was a British writer, bank cashier, and ghost hunter born in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk in 1884. He spent much of his life writing about the English countryside, local lore, and producing biographical works on notable figures such as Rudyard Kipling and Oscar Wilde. As a dedicated ghost hunter, he chronicled his supernatural experiences in books like Adventures with Phantoms (1946), famously claiming to have encountered the ghost of a hanged man twice in a woodland near Burwash during the 1930s.

In his literary and topographical career, Hopkins frequently explored the hidden depths and historic byways of London. In the late 1890s, he engaged in bohemian explorations of the city alongside the decadent poet and Rhymers’ Club member Ernest Dowson. The pair played a regular game of "Blind Chivvy" through the alleys and courts of central London, an experience Hopkins later detailed in his essay "A London Phantom." Describing themselves as initiated bohemians who shared money, confessions, and mutual enthusiasms, their late-night wanderings took them from the Strand through the St Giles area—passing locations like Simeon Solomon’s former residence at Dyott Street—up to Dowson's lodgings on Euston Street.

Hopkins married Sybil Beatrice Bately, and the couple had a son, Godfrey Thurston Hopkins (1913–2014)—professionally known as Thurston—who went on to become a well-known Picture Post photojournalist. Robert Thurston Hopkins passed away on May 23, 1958, and was buried at New Ipswich Cemetery in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.

References:

Sex, Time and Place: Queer Histories of London, c.1850 to the Present Paperback – April 19, 2018 by Simon Avery and Katherine M. Graham

Other references:

• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. “A London Phantom.” (An essay detailing his late-1890s bohemian excursions, games of ‘Blind Chivvy’, and encounters with the decadent poet Ernest Dowson through the alleys of central London, including St Giles and Dyott Street).
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Oscar Wilde: A Study of the Man and His Work. London: Sisley's, 1913.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Rudyard Kipling: A Literary Appreciation. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1914.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Rudyard Kipling: A Character Study—Life, Writings and Literary Landmarks. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1921.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. George Borrow, Lord of the Open Road. London: Jarrolds, 1922.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. H. G. Wells: Personality, Character, Topography. London: Cecil Palmer, 1922.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Thomas Hardy’s Dorset. London: Cecil Palmer, 1922.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Kipling’s Sussex. London: R. Scott, 1921.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. The Kipling Country. London: Cecil Palmer, 1924.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. The Literary Landmarks of Devon & Cornwall. London: Cecil Palmer, 1926.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Old English Mills and Inns. London: Cecil Palmer, 1927.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. London Pilgrimages. London: Hayes, 1928.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. The Lure of London. London: Cecil Palmer, 1929.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. The Man Who Was Sussex. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1933.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Life and Death at the Old Bailey. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1935.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Adventures with Phantoms. London: Quality Press, 1946.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Ghosts Over England. London: Harvill Press, 1953.
• Hopkins, Robert Thurston. Cavalcade of Ghosts. London: Angus & Robertson, 1956.
• Library of Congress Name Authority File: [LC Names: n50028476](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50028476?utm_source=gemini) (Containing broad catalog records for his published volumes).
• Open Library Author Profile: [R. Thurston Hopkins (OL1801816A)](https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1801816A/R._Thurston_Hopkins?utm_source=gemini).
• Civil Registration and Death Records: General Register Office (GRO) Index for England & Wales, Death Registration for Robert T. Hopkins, Q2, 1958, Ipswich Registration District, Volume 4b, page 1013 (recording his death at age 74 and subsequent burial at New Ipswich Cemetery).

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