Ronald Hopwood | |
|---|---|
 Hopwood in 1918 | |
| Born | 7 December 1868 London, England |
| Died | 28 December 1949 (aged 81) London, England |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1882–1919 |
| Rank | Rear admiral |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | First World War |
| Awards |  Order of the Bath (Companion) (CB) |
| Other work | Poet, lecturer, author |
| Signature |  |
Rear Admiral Ronald Arthur Hopwood CB (7 December 1868 – 28 December 1949) was a British naval officer and poet. He began his career in 1882 with the Royal Navy as a gunnery officer, completed it in 1919 as a rear admiral, and was acclaimed in 1941 as poet laureate of the Royal Navy by Time.[1] As an author, Admiral Hopwood's first work was his poem The Laws of the Navy, published in 1896[2] when he was a lieutenant. With its good-natured military advice making it popular within both the Royal and U.S. navies,[3] Time gives it "precedence among Navy men even over Kipling's If" and goes on to quote Hopwood's new poem Secret Orders in its entirety.[1] The last lines of Secret Orders, written in appreciation of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement (a predecessor to Lend Lease), harken to the Second World War bond between the two navies.
- ^ a b "World War: Debutantes Celebrated". Time. 6 January 1941. Archived from the original on 3 December 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
- ^ US Naval History & Heritage Command (2005).
- ^ Times (London, 1950).