'James Hingston (1830–1902) was born in London and arrived in Victoria in 1852, where he practised as a notary public, an agent authorised to draw up legal documents (Walker 2005:179–180). He built up considerable personal wealth from investing wisely in commercial opportunities following the goldrush era in Melbourne. Hingston never married and lived for over 30 years in his bedroom at the George Hotel, St Kilda, amid large piles of books and papers and a growing reputation for eccentricity. An indefatigable reader, he knew Shakespeare’s plays almost by heart and was considered one of Melbourne’s great raconteurs. He died at Exmouth, in England, in 1902.' (Introduction)
