Frank Hobden Art

Frank Hobden was born in 1859 and by the time of the 1911 census was living at Whitecot (now 218), High Road, South Benfleet. He was still there in 1914 according to Kelly’s Directory of Essex, but by 1922 had moved to Rosebank (now 251) Vicarage Hill, where he lived with his brother until 1935. Frank died one year later in 1936. 

Frank Hobden was a painter of national repute with 104 paintings accepted by the British Academy and 10 by the Royal Academy. He made South Benfleet and its locality the subject of a number of landscapes including an oil entitled “Barges at the Ferry, Benfleet-Canvey." In 1937, the Reverend S. Gordon Wilson wrote: “Few people of the present generation remember the above-named resident, whose mortal remains were laid to rest on November 13th last. For many years he had been crippled with rheumatism and his passing was a merciful release. He came of a distinguished family which included Sir John Franklin, D.C.L., the famous explorer. A lifelong artist, Frank Hobden exhibited pictures every year in the Royal Academy and was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He was particularly able to portray Greek classical scenes of figures and marble edifices, somewhat in the manner of the late Sir Laurence Alma Tadema, R.A.” 

For many years, Frank Hobden was a teacher of portrait painting in a famous London College of Art. The late gentleman was unmarried and was in his 78th year. The Hobdens later moved to Benfleet in order to be adjacent to the friend of their schooldays, the late Dr. S. Gordon Smith, formerly medical officer for Barnsbury, Islington. All alike were keen yachtsmen in the days when Benfleet was literally a village.