AFTER 99 YEARS FAMILY SEES REGIMENTAL COLOURS GUARDED BY GREAT-GRANDFATHER
30th June 2008

Frank Hopkins in Richmond

When Frank Hopkins and his family visited the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond they were reunited with the colours of the Regiment's 2nd Battalion that Frank's great-grandfather escorted after it was presented by King Edward VII exactly 99 years ago. Frank, with his wife Sharon and daughter Sophie, was at the Museum to present copies of a series of photographs that trace the association of the Hopkins Family with the Green Howards - including a picture of the escort of the colours at Scarborough Railway Station in June 1909. Mr Hopkins' great-grandfather - also called Frank - later joined the Scarborough Pals, the army unit formed in the town in 1915 that went on to distinguish itself in some of the hardest battles of World War I, including Ypres and Passchendaele. Another picture shows Mr Hopkins' grandfather - another Frank - and his two brothers, who all joined the Yorkshire Regiment (as the Green Howards were then known). The next generation was also in the Regiment. Mr Hopkins' father served 27 years in the Green Howards, becoming a provost sergeant and colour sergeant. He served around the world including several tours in Northern Ireland, where he was shot and wounded in the arm. He died in 2002. Now the fourth-generation Frank Hopkins is continuing the family tradition. He served in the Territorial Army with the 4/5 Battalion The Green Howards, and has worked with the Green Howards-affiliated Combined Cadet Force at Scarborough College, receiving a Commission in 2003. David Tetlow, Curator of the Green Howards Museum, says, 'The colours of the Green Howards' 2nd Battalion have pride of place in the Normanby Room in the Museum, and we were delighted to welcome the Hopkins family to see it 99 years on, and very grateful for the fascinating photographs of four generations of the same family in the Regiment.'

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