Arthur Maning Topp, journalist, was the eldest son of Samuel Topp, wool importer and merchant, and his wife, Sarah nee Clapham. Topp arrived in Melbourne with his parents and brother on 17 March 1858. He was educated at the Church of England Grammar School before joining his father's business. In 1867 he published a play, Enderby: A Tragedy.
Topp was a member of Henry Gyles Turner's (q.v.) literary circle; they collaborated in the launch of the Melbourne Review, a quarterly journal. Topp was on the editorial committee for the first six years and expressed a strong admiration for the role of the Roman-Teutonic races in Western Civilisation. He attacked the Celtic Irish as an alien race. Topp's ideas on race were linked with his admiration for the philosophical views of Herbert Spencer. In 1881 he wrote English Institutions and the Irish Race (1881), reprinted from the Melbourne Review.
Topp was a member of the Eclectic Association and was a close friend of other members such as Arthur Patchett Martin (q.v.), Theodore Fink, Alfred Deakin (q.v.) and David Mickle. In 1882 he became sub-editor of the Argus and later leader-writer and reviewer for the Argus amd the Australasian until his retirement in 1911. He married Leila Leonora, nee Sanders, in 1884 and had two sons.
See also the full Australian Dictionary of Biography Online entry. For 'Topp, Arthur Maning (1844-1916)'.
(Source: Jill Eastwood, 'Topp, Arthur Maning (1844 - 1916)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, MUP, (1976): 288-289)..
