The Reverend Alfred Stephan Hopkinson

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Mary-Ann Cook

• Namesake. The Telegraph UK 18th July 2009 wrote:
The Reverend Stephan Hopkinson, who has died aged 96, was one of the Church of England's most remarkable priests, combining outstanding pastoral gifts with unusual skill as a communicator, an acute mind and astonishing mental and physical stamina.
Not the least influential part of his varied ministry came after his official retirement in 1973, when the Headmaster of Winchester College, John Thorn, was inspired to appoint him as Counsellor of the school, a position he later combined with that of assistant chaplain. For the next 17 years, until he was 82, Hopkinson was effectively the school's spiritual father figure.
Short in stature, bald and endowed with twinkling eyes, he had no teaching responsibilities, and was free to roam wherever he wished in order to be available to all, from the newly arrived scholars to the senior dons.
In this he proved to be extremely effective, winning the trust, admiration and affection of the entire community. He was at least equal to the boys in enthusiasm and vitality. Many of them will remember his sermons, which were often personal, always illuminating and delivered with the charm of a fine raconteur; this made their conclusions all the more penetrating. Always open to new ventures and an intrepid traveller, he led many school expeditions to remote parts of the world; and when more than 80, he relished shooting the rapids of the Zambesi river in a rubber dinghy.
Earlier, Hopkinson's ministry had included wartime responsibility for the heavily bombed parish of Battersea and eight years as a religious adviser to one of the first independent television companies; in this last role he displayed production and presentation skills of the highest order.
Underpinning all of this was a robust Christian faith, centred on what he regarded as its essential truths, revealed by Jesus in the Gospels and undistorted by what he once described as "the hotchpotch of Judaism, medievalism and self-justification that constitutes much traditional Christian teaching". He had, unrepentantly, a liberal outlook - in 1961 he gave evidence in support of Penguin books during the Lady Chatterley trial - but always his chief concern was not with dogmas but with the personal needs of individuals.
Alfred Stephan Hopkinson was born on June 14 1908, and grew up in Manchester. At St Edward's School in Oxford, his friends included Douglas Bader, the wartime RAF hero, and Laurence Olivier, with whom Stephan vied for the part of Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Olivier won. Stephan was given the part of Peaseblossom, but was prevented from playing it by chilblains.
He went on to Wadham College, Oxford, as a scholar, and after reading Classical Mods went on to study military history. On coming down he went to Mexico to work for an oil company, and thus began a life of travel that took him to virtually every part of the globe.
During his time in Mexico, however, he felt drawn to Holy Orders and returned to England to prepare for ordination at Lincoln Theological College, where he was a pupil of Michael Ramsay, a future Archbishop of Canterbury. From 1935 to 1939 he was a curate at Putney Parish Church and, shortly before the outbreak of war, moved north to become vicar of St John's Church in the shipbuilding town of Barrow-in-Furness.
Like many other young priests of the time, Hopkinson was greatly influenced by Archbishop William Temple's teaching on the need for the Church to be concerned with social and political issues and, after grappling with some of these in Barrow, he returned to London in 1943 to become vicar of the large parish of Battersea.
This South Bank area had suffered considerable devastation during the Blitz, and the bombing resumed in 1944 with the German V1 and V2 rockets. Hopkinson abhorred the church's stained glass, which was "not only ugly in itself, but excluded the daylight". He recalled that after one heavy raid, "the church was unharmed - at least, until I picked up a stone and smashed all the Victorian glass".
Hopkinson was a tower of strength in a war-weary and fearful community, and continued his good work during the important years of post-war recovery. In 1948 he became Rural Dean.
In 1952 Hopkinson was appointed vicar of St Mary Woolnoth Church in the City of London. This was one of the newly created Guild churches, which had no Sunday services but were intended to concentrate on the offering of special ministries to the City's huge weekday population.
Hopkinson's brief was to facilitate the discussion of social and economic questions in a religious context. He also spent a year in charge of a church in Holloway and began a nine-year stint as a Navy chaplain. His principal duties were at HMS President, the headquarters of the London Division, but he lost no opportunity to share in the training courses held at naval bases elsewhere.
In 1958 Hopkinson became General Director of the Industrial Christian Fellowship, and the next year he moved a short distance to become vicar of the church of St Katharine Cree - another Guild Church which provided the headquarters for the ICF. During a period of deep antagonism between the trades unions and management, Hopkinson promoted behind-the-scenes talks between representatives of both sides.
During this time he also became Anglican Adviser to Associated Television, which had a considerable output of religious programmes. Before long he was much more than an adviser on the content of programmes, becoming also an accomplished producer and presenter. He was brimming with ideas, and his live commentaries and services from churches in all parts of the country bore comparison with those at the top of the broadcasting profession.
In order to devote more time to this, and to serve as the Bishop of Chelmsford's industrial adviser, Hopkinson, who had been made a Prebendary of St Paul's, left the City in 1963 to become rector of the small country parish of Bobbingworth in Essex. He remained there for 10 years.
Hopkinson's books included God at Work (1962); Greater Spirit (1963) and Modern Man Reads the Old Testament (1966); he also contributed a lively chapter to a symposium, The God I Want (1967).
Apart from his pastoral role at Winchester College, he assumed responsibility for the College gardens. On leaving the school, he spent three years assisting at Great St Mary's, the university church in Cambridge. But his powers were at last waning, and he endured increasing disability.
Stephan Hopkinson died on August 4, and is survived by two sons, one of whom was until recently the Archdeacon of Wiltshire, and by four daughters. His wife, Anne, predeceased him.

Alfred married Anne Cicely Fletcher, daughter of Walter Morley Fletcher and Frances Mary Cropper, on 31 Dec 1935. (Anne Cicely Fletcher was born on 14 Jul 1909 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire England and died on 8 Oct 1988 in Winchester, Hampshire England.)