Ralph Hopton
1596 Born at Witham, Somerset.
Studied at Oxford University and the Middle Temple.

He fought for the Protestants in the Thirty Years War, serving in the army of the Elector Palatine.
1620 Took part in Horace Vere's expedition to rescue the Winter Queen, Elizabeth of Bohemia,  the daughter of James I (and mother of Prince Rupert) through the snows of central Europe - she had been exiled after the Battle of White Mountain.
1621 Entered the House of Commons as MP for Shaftesbury.
1623 He married Elizabeth Capel Lewin on March 18th.
1624 Lieutenant-Colonel in Sir Charles Rich's regiment on the Mansfield expedition
1625 M.P. for Bath
1626 He was made Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles I on February 2nd
1628 M.P. for Wells
1639 Captain of a troop of the Royal bodyguard during the Bishop's war
1640 Elected MP for Wells in the Short Parliament and then again in the Long Parliament.
1641 He voted for the Attainder of Strafford which led to his execution.

Hopton was the chairman of the parliamentary committee which presented the Grand Remonstrance to King Charles I...but he later defected to the royalist cause.
1642 He resolutely defended the King's attempted arrest of the five members...and was imprisoned in the Tower for two weeks for criticising the Militia Bill.

Returning to Somerset after his release he was appointed general of horse by the Marquess of Hertford. He then used the King's Commission of Array to recruit an army and then together with Sir John Berkeley, William Ashburnham two troops of horse and a few dragoons he marched them into Cornwall.
1643 He defeated a parliamentarian force at Braddock Down on Jan 19th.

He took Saltash on Jan 22nd.

He again defeated Stamford at Stratton on May 16th and ensured royalist control of Cornwall and Devon.

The King made him Lord Hopton of Stratton for services rendered.
On July 5th he defeated Waller at Lansdown in Bath, Somerset. The day after the battle Hopton was injured by an ammunition explosion. 
Together with Prince Maurice and Lord Wilmot, he again defeated Waller at Roundway Down on July 13th. He then joined Prince Rupert at the siege and capture of Bristol.

He led the Royalist forces towards London by marching into Hampshire and then on to Sussex where he captured Arundel Castle on Dec 2nd.
1644 His march on London came to an end when he was defeated by Waller at Cheriton on March 29th.
1646 Appointed commander-in-chief of the Royalist western army. He was defeated by Fairfax at Torrington on Feb 16th.
On March 14th he surrendered to Fairfax at Tresillian Bridge
1652 Lord Hopton died at Bruges on October 8th.
1661 His body returned to England for burial at Witham Friary.
His motto was "I will Strive to Serve my Soveraigne King"