Vice-Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope, GCB (16 August 1766 – 2 May 1831) was a prominent and controversial British Royal Navy officer and politician in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain, whose career experienced fleet actions, disputes with royalty, party politics and entry to both Russian and British orders of chivalry. A popular officer, Hope served with Nelson, Duncan and Lord Keith through several campaigns, making connections which enabled him to secure a lengthy political career after his retirement from the Royal Navy in 1804 due to ill-health. After 26 years in Parliament, Hope was largely inactive and instead served as a Lord of the Admiralty and commissioner of Greenwich Naval Hospital. Hope died in 1832 after 55 years of naval and political service and was buried in the family plot in Scotland.
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Early life
William Johnstone Hope was born the third son of John Hope and his wife Mary Breton. The Hopes were descendants of the first Earl of Hopetoun and maintained strong political links with the family; his brothers were also prominent figures, Charles Hope later became Lord Granton and Sir John Hope served as a brigadier under Wellington in the Peninsular War.
Hope was educated at Edinburgh High School between 1774 and 1776 and the following year, aged 12, he entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman in HMS Weazel, a sloop commanded by his uncle Captain Charles Hope. As his uncle's protégé, William traveled with his relative through various commands, serving during the American Revolutionary War off the Home, Lisbon and Newfoundland Stations. In 1782 he was promoted to lieutenant and left his uncle, taking a position on the frigate HMS Daedalus in Newfoundland. At the conclusion of the war, Hope returned home on Daedalus and remained on her until 1785 when his uncle returned him to his own ship, now the guardship HMS Sampson at Plymouth.