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Edward Hopkins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Governor of the Colony of Connecticut | |
| In office 1640 – 1655 (7 separate terms) | |
| Deputy Governor of the Colony of Connecticut | |
| In office 1643 – 1653 (6 separate terms) | |
| Secretary of the Colony of Connecticut | |
| In office 1639–1640 | |
| Assistant to the General Court | |
| In office 1639–1640 | |
| Commissioner for the Connecticut Colony | |
| In office 1643–1651 | |
| Preceded by | office established |
| Succeeded by | John Cullick |
| Member of Parliament for Dartmouth | |
| In office 1656–1657 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1600 Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England |
| Died | March 1657 (aged 56–57) London |
| Spouse | Ann Yale |
| Signature | .png){kind=small} |
Edward Hopkins (1600 – March 1657) was an English colonist and politician and 2nd Governor of the Connecticut Colony. Active on both sides of the Atlantic, he was a founder of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies, serving seven one-year terms as Governor of Connecticut. He returned to England in the 1650s, where he was politically active in the administration of Oliver Cromwell as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and member of Parliament. He remained in England despite being elected Governor of Connecticut in 1655, and died in London in 1657.
Hopkins' will left substantial assets, in trust, for "Encouragement unto those forreign Plantations for the breeding up of Hopefull youth in the way of Learning both at ye Gramar School & Colledge for the publick Service of the Country in future times [and] for the upholding & promoting of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in those parts of the earth." However, the inchoate state of American law on trusts kept The Charity of Edward Hopkins (as this trust is now known) mired in litigation for the next 135 years. The eventual resolution of the case made Harvard College the major beneficiary of the trust, along with the Hopkins School of New Haven, Connecticut, and other schools and institutions.[1]
As a side effect of the early administration of the trust, the town of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, was named after him after Harvard College bought 12 500 acres of land there from the Hopkins endowment.[1]