Sir Alfred Hopkinson (28 June 1851 – 11 November 1939)
was an English lawyer, academic and politician who served as a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for two three-year periods, separated by nearly thirty years.
He was the son of John Hopkinson, a mechanical engineer, and among his brothers were
John Hopkinson
John Hopkinson, FRS, (27 July 1849 – 27 August 1898) was a British physicist, electrical engineer, Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the IEE (now the IET) twice in 1890 and 1896. He invented the three-wire (three-phase) system for ...
, a physicist and electrical engineer, and
Edward Hopkinson
Edward Hopkinson (28 May 1859 – 15 January 1922) was a British electrical engineer and Conservative politician.
He was the fourth son of John Hopkinson, an engineer who was mayor of Manchester in 1882/83.''Obituary: A Great Engineer, Mr Edwa ...
, an electrical engineer and MP. He first stood for election to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
at the
1885 general election, when he was the unsuccessful
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
candidate in
Manchester East.
He was unsuccessful again as a
Liberal Unionist
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...
candidate at the
1892 general election, when he stood in
Manchester South-West.
Hopkinson finally won a seat at the
1895 general election, when he was elected as MP for
Cricklade
Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227.
History
Cricklade ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
. He
resigned from Parliament in February 1898, by the procedural device of accepting appointment as
Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds
Appointment to the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds is a procedural device to allow Members of Parliament to resignation from the British House of Commons, resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. S ...
.
Hopkinson was Vice-Chancellor of the
Victoria University from 1901 to 15 July 1903 and then of the
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...
until 1913. In December 1914 he was appointed to the
Committee on Alleged German Outrages
The Committee on Alleged German Outrages, often called the Bryce Report after its chair, Viscount James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, James Bryce (1838–1922), is best known for producing the "Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages," pub ...
, which in May 1915 reported on German war crimes against civilians during the invasion of
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
in the opening months of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
He received the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...
(LL.D) from the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
in June 1901. He was awarded a knighthood in 1910.
He returned to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in March 1926, when he won a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
for the
Combined English Universities as a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
. He did not contest the
1929 general election.
A sculpture of him by
John Cassidy was exhibited at Manchester in 1912.
His son
Austin Hopkinson also became a Member of Parliament. One of his daughters married
Sir Gerald Hurst M.P. and another, Ellen, married
George Harwood M.P. A granddaughter, Georgina Harwood, became a well-known biographer under her married name of
Georgina Battiscombe
Georgina Battiscombe (21 November 1905 – 26 February 2006) was a British biographer, specialising mainly in lives from the Victorian era.
She was born Esther Georgina Harwood, the elder daughter of George Harwood, a former clergyman, L ...
.
References
Further reading
*Hopkinson, Mary & Ewing, Irene, ''Lady'' (eds.) (1948) ''John and Alice Hopkinson 1824-1910''. London: Farmer & Sons, printers
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkinson, Alfred
1851 births
1939 deaths
Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1895–1900
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the Combined English Universities
UK MPs 1924–1929
Vice-Chancellors of the Victoria University of Manchester
People associated with the Victoria University of Manchester
English legal scholars
Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Cricklade