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 o ...

(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 fo ...

, 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 Edward ...

, 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. T ...

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 politic ...

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 ...

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. 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 (1838–1922), is best known for producing the "Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages," published on 12 May 1915. The repor ...

, 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 ...

in the opening months of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. 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.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: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

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 ...

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 in ...

. 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 Austin Hopkinson JP (24 June 1879 – 2 September 1962) was a British industrialist and Member of Parliament (MP) who represented Mossley as an Independent from 1918 to 1929 and 1931 to 1945. He was also a noted benefactor to local causes, ...

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, Li ...

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* * * * {{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 (Interl ...

Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Cricklade

References

Further reading

External links