Vice Admiral Edward Hopson (1671 – 8 May 1728) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the

Jamaica Station Jamaica station is a major train station of the Long Island Rail Road located in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. With weekday ridership exceeding 200,000 passengers, it is the largest transit hub on Long Island, the fourth-busiest rail station ...

Origins and early career

Hopson was born in 1671, the son of Anthony Hopson (1640–1679), who was a gunner at Sandham Fort on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

and the older brother of vice admiral Sir Thomas Hopsonn. Edward followed his uncle into the

, and was serving under him as first

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

of the in 1693. On 24 July 1696 he was given his first independent command, as

post captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...

of the

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal ...

. He spent the next two years in that vessel cruising the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

. In 1702 he transferred to the command of the

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

, in which he took part in the Battle of Vigo Bay that October. The following year, ''Mary'' served as the flagship of rear admiral Basil Beaumont during his blockade of Dunkirk the following year. Fortunately for him, Hopson was on shore when the

Great Storm of 1703 The great storm of 1703 was a destructive extratropical cyclone that struck central and southern England on 26 November 1703. High winds caused 2,000 chimney stacks to collapse in London and damaged the New Forest, which lost 4,000 oaks. Ships wer ...

struck on 27 November. The ''Mary'' was thrown onto the

Goodwin Sands Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Upper Chalk platform belonging to the same geologi ...

and sunk with all hands. Captain Hopson appears to have spent most of the rest of the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

stationed in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, in command of a newly built replacement . By 1715 he was commanding the , part of the fleet taken to the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

by Sir John Norris.

Admiral

On 8 May 1719, Hopson was promoted to rear admiral of the blue, and hoisted his flag aboard the . In this post, he followed Norris on three more expeditions to the Baltic, in 1719, 1720 and 1721. He was further promoted to be rear admiral of the red on 16 February 1722, but does not appear to have been actively employed until 1726, when he took a small

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, where he joined up with another squadron under Sir John Jennings to deter possible Spanish aggression. When Jennings sailed home, Hopson took over command in the Mediterranean, and was promoted to become vice admiral of the blue on 19 April 1727. With relations with Spain descending into a

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, Gibraltar was reinforced by six ships under Sir Charles Wager, who took command of the post. Hopson served under him in the ensuing

siege of Gibraltar There have been fourteen recorded sieges of Gibraltar. Although the peninsula of Gibraltar is only long and wide, it occupies an extremely strategic location on the southern Iberian coast at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It ...

. In December 1727, Hopson was ordered to take command in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, which had been left without an admiral following the death of Sir Francis Hosier that August. He left Gibraltar aboard the on 17 December, and arrived to become Commander-in-Chief of the

on 29 January 1728. During his passage across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

he was promoted to vice admiral of the white. On arrival, he transferred his flag to the and continued the

Blockade of Porto Bello The Blockade of Porto Bello was a failed British naval action against the Spanish port of Porto Bello in present-day Panama between 1726 and 1727 as part of the Anglo-Spanish War. The British were attempting to blockade the port to stop the ...

begun by his predecessor. However, like many others in the fleet, he succumbed to tropical diseases and died on 8 May 1728. His will, dated 13 April 1720 and proved 27 July 1728, mentions his wife Jane and one son, Edward, who was still a minor. It also mentions his mother, who was still living; and a widowed sister, Jane.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopson, Edward Royal Navy vice admirals 1671 births 1728 deaths British naval commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession 18th-century Royal Navy personnel British military personnel of the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729)