HOPTON, Thomas (1584/5-1638), of Westminster

Although Hopton retained his chambers at Lincoln’s Inn while travelling abroad, he was never called to the bar. LI Black Bk. ii. 141. More interested in the Court than the law, he married the sister of a yeoman of the guard in 1622, and subsequently became a gentleman pensioner. In the same year, his brothers acquired an interest in the rectory at Westbury, Wiltshire, the borough for which he was returned to the Commons in 1626. E179/70/131; C3/358/7. Despite his Court connections, he played no recorded part in the debates of the session. It is not known whether he stood in 1628, when he was replaced by a local man, Charles Thynne.

Hopton was knighted in 1633 during King Charles’s visit to Scotland. He dictated a nuncupative will on 18 July 1638, leaving everything to his nephew (Sir) Ralph Hopton*, who was granted probate three weeks later. Shaw, ii. 201; Som. Wills, vi. 52.