Peregrine Hopson

Peregrine Thomas Hopson (5 June 1696 – 27 February 1759) was a British army officer who commanded the 40th Regiment of Foot and saw extensive service during the eighteenth century and rose to the rank of Major General.

Following Colonel Hugh Warburton, in the Spring of 1746 Hopson arrived in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia with a number of reinforcements intending to relieve the existing British garrison.

Once a fresh war broke out with France in 1756, Hopson returned to Halifax and helped organise the British response to the threat of a French attack.

The campaign was a central part of William Pitt's strategy to win the war, by seizing profitable French colonies in the Caribbean.

Hopson's choice was particularly favoured by George II, while opposed by Pitt who insisted on appointing one of his own protégés John Barrington as second-in-command.