A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hopkins, Charles
HOPKINS. (Lieut., 1827. f-p., 18; h-p., 18.)
Charles Hopkins (b) was born 7 July, 1796, at Milford, co. Pembroke.
This officer entered the Navy, 13 April, 1811, as a Boy, on board the Niemen 38, Capt. Sir Michael Seymour, employed in the Bay of Biscay, where, accompanying the same officer as Midshipman in May, 1812, into the Hannibal 74, he assisted, in March, 1814, at the capture, we believe, of the French 40-gun frigate Sultâne. Soon after that event he rejoined the Niemen, then commanded by Capt. Sam. Pym; and cruized until May, 1815, on the North American station. During the next six months we find him employed off the coast of Ireland in the Myrtle 20, Capt. Arthur Batt Bingham. He then served for a period of three years with Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres of the Tiber 38, on the Channel and Newfoundland stations; after which he became in succession attached to the Northumberland 74, Capts. Sir Michael Seymour and Thos. Harvey, Severn 40, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, Northumberland again, Capts. Thos. Harvey and Thos. Jas. Maling, and Briton, Blonde, and Sybille 38’s, Capts. Murray Maxwell, Lord Byron, and Fras. Augustus Collier. The three latter ships were employed on the South American, Pacific, and African stations; the others on the Home. On 30 April, 1827, Mr. Hopkins, who had passed his examination in June, 1817, and had served for a considerable time in the capacities of Admiralty-Midshipman and Mate, was at length promoted to the rank of Lieutenant; but he did not leave the Sybille until the following Oct. His last appointment was, 23 April, 1830, to the Prince Regent 120, bearing the flags of Admirals Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood, Sir John Poo Beresford, and Wm. Parker. In that ship he served at the Nore, then took part in an experimental cruize under Sir Edw. Codrington, and eventually proceeded off Lisbon, whence he returned home and was paid off in Feb. 1832.
Lieut. Hopkins married, 18 Dec. 1832, Miss Sarah Ledsam, of Birmingham, co. Warwick.