VIVIAN HOPKINS

Lieutenant Vivian Phelps Hopkins, whose brother Hereward had been killed at Gallipoli in May 1915, was killed in action on 21 March 1918. Vivian had attended Christ's College from 1906-1909. According to The Lyttelton Times , he was “well known on the football and cricket fields, and in all forms of healthy sport and athletics he took a prominent part.” He had volunteered in May 1915, possibly in response to his brother's death. Because of his pre-war military experience in the Christ's College Rifles and the Territorials, he was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Upon arrival in France in 1916, he fought in the Battle of the Somme, and in April 1917 he was nominated for a commission, sent to England for officer training and promoted to Second Lieutenant on 24 May 1917. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and performed a number of duties, including Battalion Transport Officer, attended a number of other training schools and spent some time with the New Zealand Engineers before rejoining his unit in February 1918. He was killed in action on 21 March just before the Division was rushed to the Somme to help stem the German offensive, and is buried in The Huts Cemetery near Ypres. He and his brother are commemorated on both the Belfast and Papanui war memorials.

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