Bessie Hocken
New Zealand artist and translator (1848–1933)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizabeth Mary Hocken (née Buckland; 25 October 1848 – 19 April 1933), was a New Zealand artist and translator. She was known as Bessie.[1][2]
Elizabeth Mary Hocken | |
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| Born | 25 October 1848 Auckland, New Zealand |
| Died | 19 April 1933 (aged 84) Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa |
Biography
Hocken was born in Auckland on 25 October 1848 to merchants William Buckland and Susan (née Channing).[1][3] On 24 July 1883, she married Dunedin-based doctor Thomas Hocken at Invercargill's St John's Church.[4][5] Her husband was a keen collector of documents describing early European settlement in New Zealand, and Hocken used her skills in painting (oils and water-colours), photography and translation to assist him in recording and illustrating his historical work.[6][7] She painted original works and also copied historical works from private collections to add to those acquired by her husband.[8][9] Hocken also helped her husband translate the text of Abel Tasman’s 1642 voyage from Dutch to English.[4][10]
Hocken was awarded a prize for flower painting at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin in 1889–90, and exhibited with the Otago Art Society from 1887 to 1914.[6]
She was one of the first women to join the Dunedin Photographic Society in April 1892.[11]
Her brothers were politicians Frank Buckland and John Buckland and her niece was photographer Jessie Buckland.[12]
Hocken died in Johannesburg, South Africa on 19 April 1933.[1][13]
