author
Sir Alfred Hopkinson
1851–1939
A lawyer, university leader, and politician, he moved easily between the worlds of law, education, and public life. His career stretched from the Victorian era into the 20th century, with time in Parliament separated by nearly three decades.
1 Audiobook
Rebuilding Britain: A Survey of Problems of Reconstruction After the World War
by Sir Alfred Hopkinson
About the author
Born in Manchester in 1851, Sir Alfred Hopkinson built a distinguished career as a barrister and legal scholar. He was called to the Bar in 1873 and went on to teach law at Owens College, the institution that later became the University of Manchester.
He became especially important in higher education through his leadership at University College Bristol, where he served as principal and then as vice-chancellor after the creation of the University of Bristol. Alongside his academic work, he also entered politics and served as a Member of Parliament in two separate periods, an unusual gap that gives his public career an interesting shape.
Remembered as an English lawyer, educationalist, and politician, Hopkinson represents a kind of late Victorian public figure whose influence crossed several fields at once. His life, which ended in 1939, links the growth of modern universities with the legal and political culture of his time.