Peregrine Hopson
Peregrine Thomas Hopson (5 June 1696 – 27 February 1759) was a
Hopson is perhaps best known for creating and signing the Peace
Early career
Hopson was born on 5 June 1696, the second son of vice admiral Sir Thomas Hopsonn and Elizabeth Timbrell.[3][4] He initially joined the Royal Marines in 1703, but later transferred to join the British Army. He rose his way up to lieutenant colonel by 1743, serving mainly in Gibraltar.
Louisbourg (1746-49)
Following Colonel Hugh Warburton, in the Spring of 1746 Hopson arrived in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia with a number of reinforcements intending to relieve the existing British garrison. The settlement had only been captured from the French the previous year. From 1747 until 1749 he served as commander of the town, until it was handed back as part of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. On 12 July 1749 he formally handed over the town to the returning French troops.
Governor of Nova Scotia
During
Seven Years' War
Canada
Once a fresh war broke out with France in 1756, Hopson returned to Halifax and helped organise the British response to the threat of a French attack. He also played a role in the
West Indies
Instead he was appointed to command a major expedition to the West Indies. The campaign was a central part of William Pitt's strategy to win the war, by seizing profitable French colonies in the Caribbean. Hopson's choice was particularly favoured by George II, while opposed by Pitt who insisted on appointing one of his own protégés John Barrington as second-in-command.[5]
Hopson sailed from Portsmouth in 1758 with 9,000 troops.[6] Once in the West Indies the British set up Barbados as a base to strike out against the two main French targets Martinique and Guadeloupe. However the British attempt to capture Martinique ended in failure, with heavy casualties and growing rates of disease and the British were forced to switch their attentions to Guadeloupe.[7] As they attempted to capture the island, the British were hit by a wave of diseases, and 1,500 men swiftly fell ill. Hopson also contracted a tropical disease and died in February 1759 in Basse-Terre.[8] His force fell under the command of Barrington, who successfully completed the capture of Guadeloupe two months later.
References
- ^ Note that there is an image of the American Revolution era General Hugh Mercer (1726–1777) which is mislabelled Governor Hopson in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. Vol. XVI. Halifax: Wm. Macnab & Son. 1912. p. 1.
- ^ Cameron, Wendy (1974). "Hopson, Peregrine Thomas". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ Brigstocke, G. R. (6 December 1913). "Admiral Sir Thomas Hopson". Notes and Queries. 11. 8 (206): 443.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13768. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ McLynn, p. 104–105.
- ^ Anderson, p. 312–313.
- ^ McLynn, p. 107–109.
- ^ McLynn,, p. 112.
Bibliography
- Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: Faber and Faber, 2000
- McLynn, Frank. 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World. Pimlico, 2005