Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/354

 puty lieutenants of Somersetshire appointed by the parliament (A Declaration made by the Lord Marquesse of Hertford and other Lords and Gentlemen of the County of Somerset, 1642; The Lord Marquesse of Hertford his Letter, &c., 1642; Lords' Journals, v. 265, 278, 286). On 5 Aug. 1642 Hopton was expelled from the House of Commons, and sent for as a delinquent (Commons' Journals, ii. 708). Hertford's little army was obliged to retreat to Sherborne Castle, and after a brief siege he resolved to transport his infantry into Wales; while Hopton, with 160 horse, fifty dragoons, and a few gentlemen, made his way to Cornwall. There he succeeded in inducing the grand jury to indict Buller and Carew, the parliamentary commissioners, and with the aid of the posse comitatus expelled them from the county. The king sent a commission to Hopton and three others to command jointly in Hertford's absence. They organised a small body of excellent Cornish infantry, and proceeded to carry the war into Devonshire (, Great Civil War, i. 79, 88;, Rebellion, vi. 239–46).

In January 1643 the parliamentary general Ruthven invaded Cornwall with greatly superior forces. Hopton, whom the other commissioners entrusted with the command, defeated the invaders at Bradock Down, near Liskeard, taking 1,250 prisoners and five guns (19 Jan. 1643; ib. vi. 248). In May 1643 Lord Stamford, with 1,400 horse and 5,400 foot, marched into Cornwall, and encamped in a strong position at Stratton. Hopton and the Cornish army attacked him there on 16 May, and routed him with the loss of seventeen hundred men and all his artillery and baggage (ib. vii. 87–90). The victors overran Devonshire, and joining Prince Maurice's forces at Chard on 4 June, attacked Sir William Waller at Lansdown, near Bath, on 5 July. Though Waller was driven from his position, the royalist army was too shattered to press its advantages. Hopton himself was shot through the arm, and badly injured by the explosion of a powder-wagon. ‘Having hardly so much life as not to be numbered with the dead,’ he was put into a litter, and carried to Devizes. At Devizes the Cornish army was besieged by Waller with a superior force, and while the horse broke through the besiegers to fetch aid from Oxford, Hopton from his sick bed directed the defence. His ingenuity and experience suggested the expedient of beating and boiling the bed-cords collected from the town to supply the want of match for the musketeers (Clarendon MS. 1738. 4. f. 9). The defeat of Waller's army at Roundway Down on 13 July by Lord Wilmot raised the siege (, Rebellion, vii. 109–20;, Great Civil War, i. 79, 98, 159, 195, 203). A few days later the royalists took Bristol, and a quarrel took place between Prince Rupert and the Marquis of Hertford on the appointment of the governor. Hertford named Hopton, while Rupert obtained from Charles a promise of the governorship for himself. To allay their strife Hopton consented to withdraw his claim, and accepted the post of deputy governor under Prince Rupert. ‘We can think no man fitter for that command than yourself, it being by far too little a recompense for your great deservings,’ wrote Charles to Hopton, explaining that he was tied by his previous promise to Rupert, and adding that he intended to testify his acknowledgment of Hopton's services ‘by some real testimony of our favour’ (Clarendon MS. 1738. 4. f. 12). Accordingly, on 4 Sept. 1643, Hopton was created a baron by the title of Lord Hopton of Stratton, with a collateral remainder to his uncle, Sir Arthur Hopton [q. v.] (, ii. 469;, Peerage, ed. Brydges, ix. 482).

In October 1643 the king ordered Hopton to ‘draw into the field for the clearing of Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, and so to point forwards as far as he could go towards London’ (Clarendon MS. 1738. (6). f. 2). Raising what foot he could in his own quarters, and reinforced by some horse from Oxford, Hopton advanced into Sussex and took Arundel Castle (9 Dec.) His old antagonist, Waller, cut off a detachment of Hopton's forces at Alton 13 Dec., and retook Arundel 6 Jan. 1644. The Earl of Forth came to Hopton's aid with fresh troops from Oxford, but their joint forces were defeated at Cheriton (or Alresford) on 29 March 1644. Though beaten, Hopton succeeded in carrying off all his guns (ib.;, Great Civil War, i. 296, 377, 385; , Rebellion, viii. 28).

In July 1644 King Charles marched into the west. Hopton joined him with part of the garrison of Bristol, and on 14 Aug. 1644 was appointed general of the ordnance in place of Lord Percy (, Historical Discourses, 1705, pp. 16, 45, 61; Diary of Richard Symonds, p. 53;, Oxford Docquets, pp. 238, 240). When the Prince of Wales was sent to the west, Hopton was appointed one of his councillors, and it was intended that he should act as lieutenant-general of his army (, viii. 180, 254, ix. 7). This appointment was made ‘by the king's special direction, and at the earnest desire of the whole association.’ The prince's council supported Hopton, but Goring, anx-