Richard Hopkins
| Richard Hopkins | |
|---|---|
| Person | Richard Hopkins |
| Title | |
| First name | Richard |
| Middle name(s) | |
| Last name | Hopkins |
| Suffix | |
| Spouse of | |
| Widow of | |
| Occupation | Cutler |
| Secondary shorebased occupation | |
| Mariner occupation | |
| Associated with ship(s) | |
| Training | Not apprentice |
| Is apprentice of | |
| Was apprentice of | |
| Had apprentice(s) | |
| Citizen | Citizen |
| Literacy | Signature |
| Has opening text | Richard Hopkins |
| Has signoff text | Richard Hopkins |
| Signoff image | (Invalid transcription image) |
| Language skills | English language |
| Has interpreter | |
| Birth street | |
| Birth parish | |
| Birth town | |
| Birth county | |
| Birth province | |
| Birth country | |
| Res street | |
| Res parish | Saint Botolph Billingsgate |
| Res town | London |
| Res county | |
| Res province | |
| Res country | England |
| Birth year | 1621 |
| Marriage year | |
| Death year | |
| Probate date | 1680 |
| First deposition age | |
| Primary sources | |
| Act book start page(s) | |
| Personal answer start page(s) | |
| Allegation start page(s) | |
| Interrogatories page(s) | |
| Deposition start page(s) | HCA 13/63 f.194v Annotate, HCA 13/70 f.397v Annotate |
| Chancery start page(s) | |
| Letter start page(s) | |
| Miscellaneous start page(s) | |
| Act book date(s) | |
| Personal answer date(s) | |
| Allegation date(s) | |
| Interrogatories date(s) | |
| Deposition date(s) | May 17 1650, Jul 7 1655 |
| How complete is this biography? | |
| Has infobox completed | Yes |
| Has synthesis completed | No |
| Has HCA evidence completed | No |
| Has source comment completed | No |
| Ship classification | |
| Type of ship | |
| Silver Ship litigation in 1650s | |
| Role in Silver Ship litigation | |
Biographical synthesis
Richard Hopkins (alt. Hopkines) (b.ca.1621; d.?ca.1680). Citizen of London. Trading in oranges and lemons.
He described himself in 1650 as a salter, but in 1655 as a cutler.
Resident in 1650 in Thames Street in the parish of Saint Botolph Billingsgate.[1] In 1655 he states simply that he is resident in the parish of Saint Botolph Billingsgate.[2]
Richard Hopkins was involved in trade in oranges and lemons from Portugal and Spain, throughout the 1650s, as evidenced by his deposition in the High Court of Admiralty in 1650 concerning the importation of Portuguese oranges and lemons from Vigo, and a case in the same court 1658 involving the importation of Spanish oranges and lemons from Bicay. This latter case establishes that Richard Hopkins was trading in the latter part of the 1650s in company with Thomas Hopkins, John Isard, Richard Barker and Thomas Smith, London merchants. They are collectively described as Thomas Hopkins and Company.[3] See below for details of the two cases.
The list of the inhabitants in 1638 of Saint Botolph Billingsgate includes "Master Thomas Hopkins" with a property rental of £16.[4] The 1666 hearth tax return for the same parish provides a more precise location of 'Butolph Lane East Side, Thomas Hopkines', with a property of ten hearths.[5]
A will of Richard Hopkins of Saint Botolph Billingsgate was proved on September 30th 1680.[6]
Evidence from High Court of Admiralty
Richard Hopkins deposed in the High Court of Admiralty in 1650. He described himself as a salter "useing to trade and traffique in the buying and selling of oranges and lemmons".[7] He reported that the ship the Phenix, lying in the Billingsgate dock, had 157,00 oranges and lemmons on it brought from Vigo for George Chamber's account. Hopkins bought the oranges at the rate of 19 s per 1000 and the lemons at the rate of 35 s per 1000.[8] Hopkins claimed that if the oranges and lemons had been brought to Billingsgate 20 days earlier than April 14th 1650, the oranges would have sold for 30 s per 1000 and the lemmons for 40 s per 1000.
Richard Hopkins deposed again on July 7th 1655 in the High Court of Admiralty.[9] He was examined on an allegation on behalf of Richard Thompson in the case of "Thompson against one halfe part of the Love of London her tackle and furniture belonging to John Solomon of Bridges in fflanders and against the sayd John Solomon in speciall and all others in generall et cetera".[10]
List of depositions in the case of Thompson against the Love
- Robert Rickman of the parish of Saint Buttolphs Billingsgate London cittizen and ffishmonger of London aged 31 yeares, July 7th 1655[11]
- Richard Hopkins of the parish of Saint Buttolphe Billingsgate London cittizen and cutler of London but using the trade of a salter aged 34 yeares, July 7th 1655[12]
- Richard Bentham of the parish of Saint Nicholas Cole Abbey London ffishmonger aged 39 yeares, July 7th 1655[13]
Richard Hopkins is named in another action in the High Court of Admiralty in August 1658. Six witnesses were deposed in this action, described as "A businesse of examination of wittnesses for the perpetuall memorie of the matter, on the part and behalf of William Ustick owner of a certaine shipp called the Hope of London (whereof Robert Whitting is master) and of Thomas Hopkins, Richard Hopkins, John Izard, Richard Barker and Thomas Smith, upon certaine Interrogatories on their behalf ministred."[14]
One of the deponents in this second case, Thomas Pegg of Saint Botolph Billingsgate, is described as servant to "Thomas Hopkins one of the parties ministrant on this behalfe".[15] Thomas Pegg stated that "Thomas Hopkins and Companie to witt Richard Hopkins, John Isard, Richard Barker and Thomas Smith all Merchants of London" caused a quantity of bees wax, stockings and deale boards for chests to be loaded onto the Hope in the Thames to be transported to Biscay in Spain. These outwards goods were consigned to John Read, an English merchant resident in Biscay. Read was instructed to relade the ship with "with lemmons and oranges, (if that countrey did affoard a convenient quantity of such fruit for the lading of the said shipp)" Pegg continued, stating that Thomas Hopkins had received a letter of advice from Morlaix in France informing him that the return lading from Biscay consisted of four hundred and eighty-five and a half double bars of iron and "sixty fower thousand and one hundred of lemmons and 12000 oranges."[16] The ship was surprised and taken during its return by a man of war claiming a French or Portuguese commission and lost. Pegg was unable to value the iron, but stated that "the said lemmons if they had come safely to their intended port of London, would have yeilded twelve shillings per hundred, and the oranges nyne or ten shillings per hundred."[17] Another servant of the sameThomas Hopkins was John Booth, who also deposed in this case.[18]
List of depositions in the case of William Ustick
ADD LIST OF DEPOSITIONS
Comment on sources
PROB 11/363/690 Will of Richard Hopkins of Saint Botolph Billingsgate, City of London 30 September 1680- ↑ HCA 13/63 f.194v
- ↑ HCA 13/70 f.397v
- ↑ HCA 13/72 f.445r
- ↑ T.C. Dale, 'Inhabitants of London in 1638: St. Botolph, Billingsgate', in The Inhabitants of London in 1638 (London, 1931), pp. 42-43. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-inhabitants/1638/pp42-43 , viewed 06/08/2016
- ↑ 'Butolph Lane East Side' in 'Hearth Tax: City of London 1666, St Botolph by Billingsgate ', in London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011), British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-hearth-tax/london-mddx/1666/st-botolph-by-billingsgate, viewed 06/08/2016
- ↑ PROB 11/363/690 Will of Richard Hopkins of Saint Botolph Billingsgate, City of London 30 September 1680
- ↑ HCA 13/63 f.194v
- ↑ HCA 13/63 f.196r
- ↑ HCA 13/70 f.397v
- ↑ HCA 13/70 f.397r
- ↑ HCA 13/70 f.397r
- ↑ HCA 13/70 f.397v
- ↑ HCA 13/70 f.397v
- ↑ HCA 13/72 f.442r
- ↑ HCA 13/72 f.444v
- ↑ HCA 13/72 f.445r
- ↑ HCA 13/72 f.445v
- ↑ HCA 13/72 f.443v
