Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Sergeant A. W. Hopkins, Royal Engineers, who was killed in action on the Western Front on 10 June 1918

1914-15 Star (113499. Cpl. A. W. Hopkins, R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (113499 Sjt. A. W. Hopkins. R.E.) with Record Office enclosure, in named card boxes of issue, in outer envelope addressed to ‘Mr. W. Hopkins, 56 Skeldergate, York’; Memorial Plaque (Alan Walter Hopkins) with Buckingham Palace enclosure, in card envelope and outer envelope similarly addressed; Memorial Scroll ‘Serjt Alan Walter Hopkins Royal Engineers’, extremely fine (5) £260-£300

Alan Walter Hopkins was born in York and prior to the Great War was employed by the North Eastern Railway Company. He attested for the Northumberland Fusiliers soon after the outbreak of War, before transferring to the Royal Engineers, and served with ‘F’ Special Company on the Western Front from 14 September 1915. Advanced Sergeant, he was on the point of coming home in order to train for a commission when he was killed in action on 10 June 1918. In a letter written to his mother after his death, a comrade writes:
‘One of the men in our section became entangled in some barbed wire and was undoubtedly wounded also. At any rate he called out for help. Your son saw immediately the difficulty in which this man was placed. He did not hesitate a second, for realising the man’s danger, he ran towards him. Nothing is more certain than that your son knew full well the danger in which he was placing himself, for I assure you that to have done what he did required an extraordinary amount of courage. It was at this point your son was killed. That one could more nobly have given his life is impossible, and we realise that in the loss of your son we lose one who was at all times a man, and an excellent soldier.’

Hopkins is buried in Fosse No. 10 Communal Cemetery Extension, Sains-en-Gohelle, France.

Sold with an original letter home from the recipient, dated 4 October 1914, describing early training camp life; a letter written after his death by a fellow comrade; a large quantity of group and individual postcard photographs; and other ephemera.