Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Major D. K. Hopkyns, Royal Engineers, who was thrice Mentioned in Despatches

British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major D. K. Hopkyns.); Jubilee 1935, engraved ‘D. K. Hopkyns, G.P.O.’, good very fine (3) £80-£100

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward De Santis.

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Daniel Knox Hopkyns was born in Chichester, Sussex on 22 September 1883, the son of a clergyman. Educated at Merchant Taylor’s School and at Pembroke College, Oxford, he was appointed an Assistant Surveyor in the General Post Office in November 1907.
Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in November 1914 – and in a nod to his civilian occupation – he joined the R.E. Postal Service. Then in March 1915, after being graded as a Staff Captain, he took up appointment as an Assistant Director of the Postal Service in Cairo, Egypt, where he established a British Army Post Office (B.A.P.O.) at the docks. Likewise, in October 1915, Hopkyns established another B.A.P.O. in Salonika, a detailed history of which may be found in The Salonika Campaign – A Postal History 1915-1918, by Christopher Grimshaw.

Having then served in France and been Mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig’s despatch of 14 December 1917, he was posted to Italy, where he served at the B.A.P.O. located at Arquata and was again Mentioned in Despatches. Appointed a Temporary Major in February 1918, he ended his military career in Salonika and relinquished his commission in June 1919, but not before being awarded a third ‘Mention’.

Returning to his duties in the General Post Office, Hopkyns remained likewise employed until his retirement, latterly as Head Postmaster at Plymouth, in which capacity he was awarded the Jubilee Medal in 1935. He had earlier served as a Major in the R.E. Special Reserve and was granted an Emergency Commission in the Second War. He died in Plymouth in February 1963.