Ralph Hopton (died 1571)
Sir Ralph Hopton, of Witham, Somerset, was an English courtier and politician. He was the son of a member of the Hopton family and Agnes Haines.
In younger life a servant of Thomas Cromwell, he became marshal of the Household from 1542 to 1556, and from 1558 to 1560, and then continued as marshal of the Household jointly with his kinsman Robert Hopton until his death in 1571. He was knighted in 1545. He was surveyor for the Court of Augmentations for Somerset in 1550-1554, and built up a sizeable estate of former monastic property in that county. He continued his offices for the Exchequer from 1554 until his death. He was a Member of the Parliament of England for Somerset in March 1553, October 1553 and 1555, and for Heytesbury in 1559.
He was kinsman of the half-blood to Owen Hopton, Robert Hopton and Arthur Hopton. He married Dorothy Willoughby, sister of William Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby of Parham. Her niece Rachel Hall, daughter of Edmund Hall of Greatford in Lincolnshire, was brought up under the supervision of Sir Ralph, who arranged her marriage to Arthur Hopton and bestowed upon them the remainder of most of his lands in tail male in 1557. At Ralph's death and inquisition post mortem, his heir-at-law was however found to be his uncle William Haines, by then an octogenarian.
