[Footnote 4: In "N. & Q.," Vol. ix., p. 19., I find, under the head of
"Wylcotes Brass," an answer to the inscription "In . on . is . all;" and as
the inscription on the tombstone discovered in All Saints, Pontefract, was
very legibly written "In God is all," may not one family be a branch of the
other? Can you say where the quotation is from?]
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_Admiral Hopson._--In Tomkins' _History of the Isle of Wight_ (1796), vol.
ii. p. 123., an anecdote is told of a native of Bonchurch named Hobson, who
afterwards became Admiral Hobson. It is mentioned that he was _an orphan_,
bound apprentice to a tailor; and that being struck with the sight of a
squadron of ships off the Isle of Wight, he rowed off in a boat to them,
and was received on the admiral's ship; that _the next day_, in an
engagement with _the French_, when his ship was engaged yard-arm and
yard-arm with the enemy, he climbed up the mast, clambered to the enemy's
yard-arm, mounted to the top-gallant mast, and took down the flag. This
created consternation in the enemy, who were soon defeated. Hobson was
{173} promoted to be an officer, and ultimately became an admiral.
This is the story as told by Tomkins. I wish to know what was his
authority.
Consulting Chernoch's _Lives of the Admirals_, I find mention of Admiral
Sir Thomas Hopson, a native of Bonchurch; who ran away from his parents,
and did not return to his home till he was an admiral. This Sir Thos.
Hopson was made second lieutenant in 1672, the year of the action in
Solbay, in which the Earl of Sandwich perished. He rose to the rank of
Vice-Admiral of the Red; and in the action of Vigo, in 1702, he
distinguished himself, and was knighted in consequence. He received a
pension of 500l. a year, and retired from the service in this year. He died
in 1717. After he quitted the navy, he became Member of Parliament for
Newtown, in the Isle of Wight.
It is evident that this Hopson is the _Hobson_ of Tomkins; and that Tomkins
spoke of the French by mistake for the _Dutch_ enemy. But I cannot discover
what authority he had for his account of the manner in which young Hobson
first distinguished himself.