Forename: Eric Francis
Surname: Hopkins
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regiment: Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers
Institution: St Paul’s Practising School
Eric Francis Hopkins was born on 26 June 1917. He was the son of James and Margaret Hopkins and lived at “Petone”, 26 Cromwell Road, Cheltenham. He was educated at St Pauls Practising School from April 1924 – August 1928 and then won a scholarship to Cheltenham Grammar School between 1928 and 1933. At grammar school Eric was House Cricket Captain and Middle School Steeplechase winner in 1932-1933. After gaining his Oxford School Certificate, he joined a printing firm of Norman, Sawyer & Co as an apprentice compositor.
He joined the Royal Artillery in 1940, working on local radio duties until being transferred to the Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers which required him to attend Technical College in the Midlands, which led to the cause of his death. On the night of the 3 May 1943, aged 25, Lance Corporal Hopkins was involved in a collision with a motor car, cycling between Stoneleigh and Coventry, resulting in head injuries. He was 25 years old and is buried at Cheltenham Cemetery. The headstone reads “Remembered”.