Hopperton, HR

Captain Harry Robert Hopperton

Harry was born on January 30th 1891, the second child, and first son, of an advertising contractor, also named Harry Hopperton, and his wife, Helen. He spent just over four years at Dulwich, between September 1904 and the end of 1908, during which he was joined by his younger brother, Stanley; he was also, in his final summer, a member of the 2nd XI cricket team. From Dulwich he went on to work in the motor trade, including time spent as an apprentice at an engineering firm in Birmingham.
On August 10th 1914, within days of the declaration of war, Harry joined the Royal Naval Air Service, and after qualifying as a pilot, was sent to supervise the construction of airships at Barrow-in-Furness. In August 1916 he was transferred to Greece, where he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant, and placed in charge of the airship station at Kassandra Bay. A bout of malaria in August 1917 forced him to be invalided home, and after his recovery he went on to spend that winter employed at various stations around Ireland. In March 1918, shortly after being promoted to Flight Lieutenant-Commander, he was transferred to Longside, an airship base near Aberdeen, and was serving there when the R.N.A.S. was merged into the newly-created Royal Air Force on April 1st 1918 – his rank being changed to Captain as a result. On July 31st he was in command of Airship C.25 when it took off over the North Sea, attempting to track a damaged German U-Boat – it was to be the last anyone saw of the craft, or any of its four crew. Harry, along with the other three men on board, was later officially declared to have died on that day.