Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Mr and Mrs Jesse Hopkins. He had been employed as an ironstone labourer before the war. He enlisted in the South Staffordshire Regiment and embarked for France in September 1916, he had entered the trenches for the first time and was engaged in making a dug out when he was hit by a German sniper and killed instantly. “He was one of my best men,” wrote his platoon commander, “and a very willing worker, and he was, I am sure, a son to be proud of. . . .It was his first time in the trenches.”