Sir Arthur Hopton (1488–15/16 August 1555) of Cockfield Hall in Yoxford, Suffolk was an English knight, landowner, magistrate, and Member of Parliament.M.K. Dale, 'Hopton, Sir Arthur (1488-1555), of Cockfield in Yoxford, Suff.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, (from Boydell and Brewer, 1982), History of Parliament Online.
The Hoptons at Blythburgh and Yoxford
John Hopton (c. 1405–1478), Sir Arthur's great-grandfather, was of Yorkshire background. His father Thomas was the acknowledged natural son of Sir Robert de Swyllington (died 1391), of Swillington in Yorkshire (between Temple Newsam and Methley, south-east of Leeds), who also held lands around Blythburgh in Suffolk. Sir Robert's son Sir Roger (died 1417) developed his Suffolk holdings: when, in 1428, after a series of deaths, Sir Robert was shown to have entailed his estates upon Thomas Hopton and his heirs, the Yorkshire and Suffolk estates descended around 1430 to John Hopton.C. Richmond, John Hopton: A Fifteenth Century Suffolk Gentleman (Cambridge University Press, 1981), pp. 1-30 (Google).
John purchased Cockfield Hall at Yoxford from Sir John Fastolf in 1440,Richmond, John Hopton, at p. 26 (Google). but had for his principal residence the manor of Westwood at Blythburgh, midway between Blythburgh village and Priory and his quay at Walberswick. John (who is buried in the Hopton chantry in Blythburgh parish church) became fully established in Suffolk, and was, by his last wife Thomasine Barrington, father of Sir William Hopton, his principal heir. William Hopton, Custos of Dunwich and Treasurer of the Household to King Richard III,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). Supersedes 'Visitation of 1561: Hopton of Westwood', in W. Metcalfe (ed.), The Visitations of Suffolk made by Hervey, Clarenceux, 1561, Cooke, Clarenceux, 1577, and Raven, Richmond Herald, 1612 (Exeter 1882), pp. 43-44 (Internet Archive). was knighted by King Richard on the day before his coronation in 1483.W.A. Shaw, The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time 2 vols, for the Central Chancery for the Orders of Knighthood, St James's Palace (Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906), II, p. 21 (HathiTrust). William married Margaret Wentworth, daughter and heir of Sir Roger Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk by his wife Margery le Despenser, and they were the parents of Sir George Hopton: Sir William died in 1484.A.I. Suckling, The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk, 2 vols (1845-1848), II, p. 137 (Internet Archive), citing Harvey's 1561 Visitation, Lansdowne MS 876. The earlier ancestry given by Suckling for John Hopton is superseded by C. Richmond.
Arthur Hopton and his inheritance Sir George (knighted in 1487W.A. Shaw, The Knights of England (1906), II, p. 24 (HathiTrust).) married Anne Sotehill of Stockerston, Leicestershire,J.M. Blatchly and W. Haward, 'Sir Robert Lord Curson, soldier, courtier and spy, and his Ipswich mansion', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, XLI Part 3 (2007), pp. 335-50 (Society's pdf). but died aged 29 in 1490, very soon followed by his elder son John, a child.'643. George Hopton, knt.' and '644. John, son and heir of George Hopton, knt.', in Maskelyne and H.C. Maxwell Lyte, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Series 2, Volume 1: Henry VII (London, 1898), pp. 246-266. British History Online 246-66 (British History Online). Thereupon George's second son, Arthur Hopton, an infant, became his father's heir in the manors of Westleton, Westhall, Thorington and Easton Bavents, and his brother's heir in the manor of Blythburgh, 'otherwise called West Woode', with its members and hamlets, in 1490, which was at first the headmanor.Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry VII, I: 1485-1494 (HMSO 1914), p. 334 (HathiTrust). Furthermore at the death of his great-grandmother Thomasine in 1498,For an abstract of her will, see H.W. King, 'Excerpts from ancient wills', Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, New Series, II Part 1 (1884), pp. 55-70, at pp. 63-70, linked at Essex Transactions site. Arthur also became heir to the manors of Wissett and Wissett Roos, Yoxford and Stikland, Brentfen and Middleton, and of Mourelles, though not yet of age to take possession.'200. Thomasine Hopton, widow', in Maskelyne and H. C. Maxwell Lyte (eds), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Series 2, Vol. 2: Henry VII (HMSO, London 1915), pp. 103-32 (British History Online).
Arthur's mother Anne remarried in 1498 to Sir Robert, Lord Curson, who at once entered Hopton's manor of Westleton forcibly, claiming it should belong to Anne during her lifetime.Dale, 'Hopton, Sir Arthur', History of Parliament. Sir George Hopton had left the child in the wardship of four trusted friends, and his executors Sir Robert Clere (c.1453–1529, of Ormesby St. Margaret, Norfolk) and William Eyre became engaged in lengthy Star Chamber proceedings for the recovery of Arthur's rights.The National Archives (UK), Court of Star Chamber, Proceedings (Henry VIII); refs: STAC 2/9, f.241; STAC 2/10, f. 48-49; STAC 2/17/336; STAC 2/25/144 (see Discovery Catalogue). It was then about a decade later that he made his first marriage, to Maud, daughter of Sir Robert Dymoke of Scrivelsby (died 1546). Sir Robert had been knighted on the same occasion as Arthur's grandfather Sir William Hopton, and Robert's maternal grandparents Lionel Welles, 6th Baron Welles and Joan Waterton lay in a fine tomb at Methley, beside Swillington. Sir Robert Dymoke was King's Champion at the Coronations of Kings Richard III, Henry VII, and Henry VIII.S. Lodge, Scrivelsby, the Home of the Champions (W.K. Morton, Horncastle/Elliot Stock, London 1893), pp. 56-61 (Internet Archive).
This marriage, however, although socially advantageous, produced no surviving children, and by 1518 Arthur Hopton had taken a second wife. The match was no less ambitious, his choice falling upon Anne, daughter of Sir Davy Owen of Cowdray House at Midhurst in West Sussex, a natural son of Sir Owen Tudor (and therefore uncle to King Henry VII).'Owen', in W. Bruce Bannerman, The Visitations of the County of Sussex made and taken in the years 1530 and 1633-4, Harleian Society Vol. LIII (1905), p. 122 (Internet Archive). Sir David Owen refers to "my daughter Anne Hopton" in his will.W.H. Blaauw, 'On the Effigy of Sir David Owen in Easebourne Church, near Midhurst... to which his will and codicil are now added', Sussex Archaeological Collections, VII (1854), pp. 22-43 (Internet Archive); N.H. Nicolas, Testamenta Vetusta, 2 vols (Nichols and Son, London 1826), II, pp. 700-02 (Internet Archive). From this marriage came all of Sir Arthur's offspring, including five or six sons and four daughters, his eldest son and heir Owen (the future Sir Owen Hopton) being born c. 1519.Dale, 'Hopton, Sir Arthur', History of Parliament.
Service Arthur served in the French campaign of 1513 and was knighted for his bravery after the Battle of the Spurs.W.A. Shaw, The Knights of England (1906), II, p. 41 (HathiTrust). He was appointed to the commission for the peace in Suffolk in 1514 and remained on the bench for the rest of his life.Dale, 'Hopton, Sir Arthur', History of Parliament. He appears as one of the "Knights for the Body" in the royal household in 1516.J.S. Brewer (ed.), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 2: 1515-1518 (London 1864), pp. 871-73, no. 2735 (British History Online). He went with Henry VIII and other knights to Henry's meeting with Francis I of France at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.D. Richardson, ed. K.G. Everingham, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2 volumes (Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City 2011), II, pp. 378-79 (Google).'Henry VIII: March 1520, 21-30', in J.S. Brewer, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 3: 1519-1523 (London 1867), pp. 231-249, nos. 703, 704.2-3 (British History Online). He was also present at the reception of Charles V in 1522, and attended the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533.'Henry VIII: May 1533, 26-31', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 6: 1533 (London 1882), pp. 234-62, no. 562.i-ii (British History Online). In 1536 he was summoned to the King's service with 100 men to suppress the Pilgrimage of Grace, and was taken with Sir Anthony Wingfield and Sir Thomas Tyrrell out of Suffolk in the company of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk:'Henry VIII: October 1536, 6-10', in J. Gairdner, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 11: July–December 1536 (London 1888), pp. 221-257. British History Online pp. 221-57, nos. 580.2, 580.3.ii, 615, 642 (British History Online). with Wingfield and Sir John Candysshe he sent letters of information to the Duke from Barton-upon-Humber in November.J. Gairdner, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 11: July–December 1536 (HMSO, London 1888), pp. 470-71, nos 1169, 1170 (British History Online). He sat upon juries for the trial of the rebels. He attended the christening of Prince Edward in 1537.'Royal Christenings. The Christening of Prince Edward' (from Leland's Collectanea, Hearne edition), in Gentleman's Magazine, New Series XVII: January to June 1842 (William Pickering/John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London 1842), pp. 161-65, at p. 165 (Google). He was appointed to attend Anne of Cleves in 1539.John Gough Nichols, Chronicle of Calais (London: Camden Society, 1846), p. 176. He was a knight of the shire for Suffolk in 1539, and again in 1542, probably on both occasions with Sir Anthony Wingfield.Dale, 'Hopton, Sir Arthur', History of Parliament.
Building at Yoxford and Blythburgh
Sir Arthur is thought to have built Cockfield Hall at Yoxford in its Tudor brick form, including the part now forming the north wing of the later mansion, and the Gatehouse. This work may date to around 1520, since he was still principally resident in Blythburgh in 1524.C. Tracy, 'Master William Pykenham, LL.D (c. 1425-97) Scholar, Churchman, Lawyer and Gatehouse Builder', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, XLI, Part 3, pp. 289-322 (Society's pdf), at p. 316 and note 95. The brick hall and farmstead of his principal manor of Westwood, known as Westwood or Blythburgh Lodge, which was also probably built in his time (but much modified since), stands south-east of the village on rising land facing south over water-meadows and pastures towards the Dunwich river.