Hopkins, William Smith Nicholson
3765 Private William Smith Nicholson Hopkins - 44th Battalion & 11th Light Trench Mortar Battery
William Smith Nicholson Hopkins was born in 1889 in Aberdeenshire Scotland and was adopted to John and Margaret Hopkins.
The 1901 census shows him living at Grange Banffshire Scotland as a student/scholar. He had his early years in Scotland and was educated there.
William came to Western Australia in 1910/11 and his occupation was a Minister of Religion. He worked in the metropolitan area as well as Kalgoorlie. prior to his enlistment he was in residence at Osborne Road East Fremantle.
On the 10th September 1916 William enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was found to be fit for enlistment, with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;
Height - 5 feet 5 inches tall;
Weight - 12lbs;
Chest Measurement - 32-35 inches;
Complexion - Pale;
Eyes - Blue;
Hair - Black.
After his successful enlistment, William was posted to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was assigned to the 8th Reinforcements to the 51st Battalion AIF. He trained with this group for the next few months, but was then posted to Home service, being based at Rockingham Camp from the 23rd December 1916 till the 23rd March 1917.
William was then given a leave period during which time he married on the 2nd May 1917 to Ivy Rachel Waghorn. The were living at Osborne Road East Fremantle during this time.
On the 17th May 1917 William returned to Blackboy Hill Camp and was now assigned to the 10th Reinforcements to the 51st Battalion AIF. On the 29th June 1917, William and his reinforcement group entrained for Fremantle Harbour where they boarded the transport ship HMAT Borda. The ship then set sail for England, arriving at Plymouth on the 25th August 1917.
William was then disembarked and was sent to the 13th training Battalion at Codford Camp on the Salisbury Plains. William trained there till December 1917 when he was sent to France.
Instead of joining the 51st Battalion, William was now reassigned to the 44th Battalion AIF, being officially taken on strength on the 18th December 1917.
From December 1917 to March 1918 the 44th Battalion held the line in Belgium south east of Ypres between Hollebeke and Messines.
As a result of the German offensive on March 21st 1918 which broke through the British front line further south, the Australian Divisions were sent to the Somme to help stop the German advance. The 44th Battalion were sent to an area near the Somme River at Sailly-le-Sec and Sailly Laurette. The 44th Battalion advanced till they met the Germans in the field near Sailly Laurette and though the German fire stopped the 44th from advancing, the Germans were also stopped.
William and the 44th Battalion were in this sector for the next few months. On the 4th July 1918 the 44th Battalion took part in the successful capture of Hamel village. William came through this action unscathed and on the 12th July 1918 he was transferred to the 11th Light Trench Mortar Battery.
On the 8th August 1918 the 11th LTMB took part in the successful advance from the Villers-Bretonneux front and helped the infantry take their objectives. The 11th LTMB advanced continually for the next several weeks, seeing action around Bray, Clery and Peronne. By the 29th September 1918 they were at the Hindenburg Line defences.
The 11th LTMB was involved in the attack in the Hindenburg Line for the next few days but again William came through safely. The 11th LTMB were then withdrawn for a rest period and they were still out of the line when the Armistice was announced on the 11th November 1918.
William had already organised to go on leave to Paris on the 11th November 1918, so it would have been an enjoyable place to be for the next week. He then returned to his unit on the 22nd November 1918.
When the Germans withdrew to behind their own borders after the Armistice, the Australians were sent into what had been German occupied parts of Belgium and France. William had another period of leave to England in December 1918 and was then retained in England, being seconded to the education section of the AIF. He was then promoted to Temporary Corporal.
On the 4th March 1919, William began a period of non military employment, being interested in agriculture, he was sent to Aberdeenshire in Scotland. He was there till the 22nd June 1919.
He was then granted further leave, and a request in August 1919 extended this leave for a further period of time. On the 16th August 1919 William was admitted to the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital at Bulford with venereal disease. He remained there till the 2nd October 1919 when he was transferred to the AIF Camp at Sutton Veny.
On the 15th November 1919 William boarded the transport ship Ypiranga and set sail for home, reaching Fremantle on the 26th December 1919. William was discharged from the AIF on the 2nd February 1920.
He then returned home to reunite with his wife. William appears to have stopped being a Minister of Religion and then became a teacher. they moved to North Perth, however they were divorced in 1931.
William then moved to Irvine St Cottesloe and was now working as a clerk. In 1936 he was at Newcastle Street in Perth.
In 1942 William married Mildred Sophia and they moved to Ivy Street Leederville. William was now working as a railway employee. By the 1960's he was living at Warton street Cottesloe.
William died on the 11 August 1969 aged 80 in Fremantle. He was cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery.