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Thomas Hopsonn
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Thomas Hopsonn
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hopsonn (April 1643 – 12 October 1717) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. His most famous action was the breaking of the boom during the battle of Vigo Bay in 1702. After retiring from active service, he became a Navy Commissioner and the governor of Greenwich Hospital.
Hopsonn was born in Shalfleet on the Isle of Wight, where he was baptised on 6 April 1643, the second son of Captain Anthony Hopson (d. 1667) and his wife Anne Kinge. His great grandfather was the Elizabethan explorer Anthony Jenkinson. According to local tradition, he was orphaned early in life and apprenticed to a tailor in Bonchurch, near Ventnor, before running off to sea. Samuel Smiles tells the tale thus in Self Help:
He was working as a tailor's apprentice near Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, when the news flew through the village that a squadron of men-of-war was sailing off the island. He sprang from the shopboard, and ran down with his comrades to the beach, to gaze upon the glorious sight. The boy was suddenly inflamed with the ambition to be a sailor; and springing into a boat, he rowed off to the squadron, gained the admiral's ship, and was accepted as a volunteer.
According to John Knox Laughton in the Dictionary of National Biography, this colourful story "rests on no historical foundation".
However it happened, Hopsonn seems to have joined the navy by 1662, and was mentioned as a "particular friend" of Samuel Pepys' brother-in-law, Balthazar St Michel, in 1666. He was given his first commission, as second lieutenant of the Dreadnought, on the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672. He fought in the Battle of Solebay aboard this vessel, and in all the other battles of the war.
On 10 December 1676, he was appointed first lieutenant on the Dragon, and sailed to the Mediterranean under Sir Roger Strickland. During this time, whilst in combat aboard a Barbary Corsair, he wrenched a nimcha from the hand of one of his assailants and ran him through with it. The sword remains in the collection of the National Maritime Museum. On 5 November 1677, he followed Strickland to the Centurion, and then to the Mary on 10 December 1677. On 21 March 1678, vice admiral Herbert gave him his first command: the Tiger, which had been taken as a prize. Returning to Britain in 1679, he spent some time ashore, and had become an ensign in a foot company of the Portsmouth garrison by 1682.
On 10 January 1682, he was recalled to sea and given command of the Swann. After serving initially on the coast of Ireland, his ship was part of the fleet led by George Legge to conduct the evacuation of Tangier. But, after returning home in this vessel in September 1684, he resumed his army career, becoming a Lieutenant in the 1st Foot Guards on 30 April 1685. He was finally given another naval command on 18 May 1688, when James II appointed him to the Bonaventure. This ship was part of the fleet sent to The Nore under Strickland to prevent the Dutch invasion. However, Hopsonn was one of the conspirators within the fleet who supported William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution.
Following the revolution, Hopsonn retained command of the Bonaventure and was part of the squadron that relieved the siege of Derry in June 1689. On 28 October 1689, he was posted to the York, and commanded that vessel during the battle of Beachy Head the following year. Hopsonn's immediate commander in the battle was Sir George Rooke, who formed a high opinion of his gallantry and was afterwards much associated with him. He commanded Royal Katherine for two months starting in August 1690, before moving to command the St Michael. It was aboard the latter that he followed Rooke in the battle of Barfleur on 19 May 1692. In the same year, he was promoted to become a captain in the foot guards on the recommendation of admiral Edward Russell.
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Thomas Hopsonn
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hopsonn (April 1643 – 12 October 1717) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. His most famous action was the breaking of the boom during the battle of Vigo Bay in 1702. After retiring from active service, he became a Navy Commissioner and the governor of Greenwich Hospital.
Hopsonn was born in Shalfleet on the Isle of Wight, where he was baptised on 6 April 1643, the second son of Captain Anthony Hopson (d. 1667) and his wife Anne Kinge. His great grandfather was the Elizabethan explorer Anthony Jenkinson. According to local tradition, he was orphaned early in life and apprenticed to a tailor in Bonchurch, near Ventnor, before running off to sea. Samuel Smiles tells the tale thus in Self Help:
He was working as a tailor's apprentice near Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, when the news flew through the village that a squadron of men-of-war was sailing off the island. He sprang from the shopboard, and ran down with his comrades to the beach, to gaze upon the glorious sight. The boy was suddenly inflamed with the ambition to be a sailor; and springing into a boat, he rowed off to the squadron, gained the admiral's ship, and was accepted as a volunteer.
According to John Knox Laughton in the Dictionary of National Biography, this colourful story "rests on no historical foundation".
However it happened, Hopsonn seems to have joined the navy by 1662, and was mentioned as a "particular friend" of Samuel Pepys' brother-in-law, Balthazar St Michel, in 1666. He was given his first commission, as second lieutenant of the Dreadnought, on the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672. He fought in the Battle of Solebay aboard this vessel, and in all the other battles of the war.
On 10 December 1676, he was appointed first lieutenant on the Dragon, and sailed to the Mediterranean under Sir Roger Strickland. During this time, whilst in combat aboard a Barbary Corsair, he wrenched a nimcha from the hand of one of his assailants and ran him through with it. The sword remains in the collection of the National Maritime Museum. On 5 November 1677, he followed Strickland to the Centurion, and then to the Mary on 10 December 1677. On 21 March 1678, vice admiral Herbert gave him his first command: the Tiger, which had been taken as a prize. Returning to Britain in 1679, he spent some time ashore, and had become an ensign in a foot company of the Portsmouth garrison by 1682.
On 10 January 1682, he was recalled to sea and given command of the Swann. After serving initially on the coast of Ireland, his ship was part of the fleet led by George Legge to conduct the evacuation of Tangier. But, after returning home in this vessel in September 1684, he resumed his army career, becoming a Lieutenant in the 1st Foot Guards on 30 April 1685. He was finally given another naval command on 18 May 1688, when James II appointed him to the Bonaventure. This ship was part of the fleet sent to The Nore under Strickland to prevent the Dutch invasion. However, Hopsonn was one of the conspirators within the fleet who supported William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution.
Following the revolution, Hopsonn retained command of the Bonaventure and was part of the squadron that relieved the siege of Derry in June 1689. On 28 October 1689, he was posted to the York, and commanded that vessel during the battle of Beachy Head the following year. Hopsonn's immediate commander in the battle was Sir George Rooke, who formed a high opinion of his gallantry and was afterwards much associated with him. He commanded Royal Katherine for two months starting in August 1690, before moving to command the St Michael. It was aboard the latter that he followed Rooke in the battle of Barfleur on 19 May 1692. In the same year, he was promoted to become a captain in the foot guards on the recommendation of admiral Edward Russell.
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