Robert Hopton (died 1590)

Robert Hopton (died 1590), of Yoxford, Suffolk of St Mary Mounthaw, London, was Knight Marshal of the Household 1560-1577, and English Member of Parliament for Mitchell in 1563.[1] He was a son of Sir Arthur Hopton of Cockfield Hall, Yoxford, and brother of Sir Owen Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower of London.[2]

His half-brother Ralph Hopton (died 1571) was appointed Knight Marshal of the Household in 1542, and continued in that office alone until 1556, when he stood down. However he was reappointed in 1558, and on 20 May 1560 Queen Elizabeth granted the office to Ralph Hopton, Knight, and Robert Hopton together for life in survivorship.[3] In 1561 his servant Roger Ratcliffe confessed to involvement in a highway robbery.[4] An important prisoner at this time in the Marshalsea Court was Edmund Bonner, whom they escorted to the Court of King's Bench in October 1564.[5] After Ralph's death in 1571 Robert continued in the position until 1577.[6] In 1574 one of his officers, Henry Percivall, and his attendants were brought before a grand jury for arresting men as far afield as Chelmsford and demanding money for their release.[7]

He married Dorothy Pakenham, and his daughter Dorothy was his heir. By his will he made Dorothy, then a minor, joint executor with his nephew Arthur Hopton (died 1607), son of his brother Sir Owen Hopton, and appointed Arthur to be her guardian.[8] Dorothy married Arthur Hopton's eldest son Owen Hopton.[9]

References
  1. N.M. Fuidge, 'Hopton, Robert (d.1590), of Yoxford, Suff. of St. Mary Mounthaw, London', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament Online.
  2. W.L. Rutton, 'Pedigree of Hopton of Suffolk and Somerset', in J.J. Howard (ed.), Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 3rd Series Vol. III (Mitchell and Hughes, London 1900), pp. 9-12, and notes pp. 81-86 (Internet Archive).
  3. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, Vol. I: 1558-1560 (HMSO 1976), p. 351.
  4. R. Lemon, Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, of the Reigns of Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth, 1547-1580 (Longman, Brown, Green, Longman and Roberts, London 1856), p. 189 (Google).
  5. G. de C. Parmiter, 'Bishop Bonner and the Oath', Recusant History, XI, Catholic Record Society (1971-72), pp. 215-36, at p. 225.
  6. R. Virgoe, 'Hopton, Sir Ralph (1509/10-71), of Witham, Som.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online.
  7. F.G. Emminson, Elizabethan Life: Disorder. Mainly from Essex Sessions and Assize Records (Essex County Council, Chelmsford 1970).
  8. Will of Robert Hopton of London (P.C.C. 1591, Sainberbe quire).
  9. 'Hopton', in F.T. Colby (ed.), The Visitation of the County of Somerset in the Year 1623, Harleian Society Vol. XI (1876), pp. 56-57 (Internet Archive). From Harleian MS 1141.


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