HEREWARD HOPKINS

Private Hereward Philps Hopkins was a member of the Otago Infantry Battalion, was killed in action at Gallipoli on 2 May 1915. Hereward Hopkins was educated at Belfast School and Rangiora High School, and prior to the war he was an electrician with the Christchurch Tramway. He was one of the many men from Canterbury who volunteered early and according to The Lyttelton Times was sent to Dunedin to “make up the deficiency in the Otago quota”. His father Arthur was a chief clerk, and later manager, of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company works at Belfast. Hereward Hopkins was the fifth son of ten sons that Arthur and Mary Hopkins raised. It was a local pre-war anecdote that the Hopkins family could field a cricket team by themselves. Several of his brothers would also enlist, and Vivian would be killed in action in the Somme in 1918. His brother Berkeley was a prominent member of the First XV at Christ's College and went on to become a well-known solicitor after the war. Hereward Hopkins is commemorated on the Lone Pine memorial at Gallipoli in addition to be listed on the Papanui and Belfast War memorials as well as the memorial at Rangiora High School (see below)

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