A republican by political orientation, he was close to Louis Blanc, having met him during the 1848 revolution. He made sculptures for republican banquets, photographs of which remain, although the works themselves are lost. Because of his political activism, Hingre twice had to flee to England, once in 1848, and once in 1858. While in England, he worked in Birmingham as the ornamental sculptor of Elkington &amp; Co. During this employment he first began to sculpt animals; is first works were horse racing trophies. He first exhibited at the Salon in 1860, despite his British exile.