Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hope, William Johnstone
HOPE, Sir WILLIAM JOHNSTONE (1766–1831), vice-admiral, third son of John Hope (1739–1785) [q. v.], and first cousin of Admiral Sir Henry Hope [q. v.], was born on 16 Aug. 1766. In January 1777 he entered the navy under the care of his uncle, Captain Charles Hope (d. 1808), on board the Weasel, and served with him, in different ships, on the home, Lisbon, and Newfoundland stations, till, in October 1782, he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Dædalus, in which he served on the Newfoundland and home stations. In 1785 he was again with his uncle Charles as lieutenant of the Sampson, guardship at Plymouth, and in March 1786 was appointed to the Pegasus frigate, commanded by Prince William Henry, in the West Indies. In May 1787 he was moved into the Boreas, with Nelson as captain, and in her returned to England. In 1789 he went out to Newfoundland in the Adamant with Sir Richard Hughes, by whom in the following year he was promoted to the rank of commander, and appointed as acting captain of the Adamant. In 1793 he commanded the Incendiary fireship in the Channel, and on 21 March 1794 was posted to the Bellerophon, carrying the flag of Rear-admiral Pasley, with whom he was serving in the battle of 1 June, for which he received the gold medal. In January 1795 he was appointed to the Tremendous, but in March was moved into the Venerable as flag-captain to Admiral Duncan. An accidental blow on the head compelled him to resign this command in September 1796; nor was he able to serve again till February 1798, when he was appointed to the Kent, again as flag-captain to Lord Duncan. On the surrender of the Dutch Texel fleet on 28 Aug. 1799, Hope was sent to England with the despatches, when he was presented by the king with 500l. for the purchase of a sword. He was shortly afterwards made a commander of the knights of St. John by the emperor of Russia, whose fleet had been co-operating with the English against the Dutch (James, Naval History, ed. 1860, ii. 345). The Kent was then sent to the Mediterranean to join the fleet under Lord Keith, and in November 1800 received Sir Ralph Abercromby on board at Gibraltar, for a passage to Egypt. In the early operations of the campaign of 1801 Hope was present, but resigned his command on the Kent being selected by Sir Richard Bickerton as his flagship, and preferred to return to England. In 1800 he had been elected member of parliament for the Dumfries boroughs, and in October 1804 was returned for the county of Dumfries, which he continued to represent till 1830. In the summer of 1804 he commanded the Atlas in the North Sea, but was obliged by failing health to resign. From 1807 to 1809 he was one of the lords of the admiralty; in August 1812 he attained his flag, and from 1813 to 1818 was commander-in-chief at Leith; in 1815 he was nominated a K.C.B.; in August 1819 he became a vice-admiral; and from 1820 to 1828 was at the admiralty as a member of the board or of the council of the lord high admiral. He was nominated a G.C.B. in 1825, and in 1828 was appointed treasurer of Greenwich Hospital; when that office was abolished he became one of the five commissioners for managing the affairs of the hospital. In 1830 he resigned his seat in parliament. He died 2 May 1831.
Hope married: first, in 1792, the Lady Anne, eldest daughter of James, third earl of Hopetoun [q. v.], and by her had two daughters and four sons, of whom, Sir William James Hope-Johnstone, rear-admiral of the United Kingdom, died in 1878; and secondly, in 1821, Maria, dowager countess of Athlone, by whom he had no issue.
[Ralfe's Naval Biog. iii. 122; Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. ii. (vol. i. pt. ii.) 507; Naval Chronicle, xviii. 269; Gent. Mag. 1831, vol. ci. pt. i. p. 639; Foster's Peerage, s.n. ‘Hopetoun.’]