Henry James Hopkins (11 August 1912 – 9 January 1986) was a New Zealand civil engineer and university professor. He was born in Dwellingup,

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 11 August 1912. In the

1980 New Year Honours The 1980 New Year Honours were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 31 December 1979 to cele ...

, Hopkins was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

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1912: Born Dwellingup, Western Australia, 11 August. 1920-24: Scotch College, Perth, West Australia 1925-28: Guildford Grammar, Perth. 1929-33: University of Western Australia (BE, BSc). Hockey captain and cricket player. 1934: Awarded Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University – Brasenose College. MA (Oxon) 1937-38: Engineering Assistant, Air Ministry Works Department, England. 1938-40: Structural Engineer, Bridge Department Southern Railway, England. 1940 – 45: Royal Air Force pilot and instructor flying Mosquito and Halifax aircraft. Awarded DFC. 1946-7: Chief Structural Engineer, Courtaulds Limited, London. 1948 – 51: Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of Western Australia, Perth. 1951-78: Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. Responsible for Civil Engineering Department. Dean of Faculty of Engineering 1955-58 and 1964-67. Chairman of Centennial Executive Committee. Taught structural mechanics, reinforced concrete, bridge design and history of civil engineering. Led Civil Engineering Department to achieve international renown. Appointed Professors Bob Park and Tom Paulay and encouraged their development. 1954: Member Royal Commission of Enquiry into Tangiwai Rail Disaster, NZ 1959 and 1968: Sabbaticals to USA, UK and Europe studying history of bridges. 1963-64: Chairman Advisory Panel of Engineers for Lyttelton Road Tunnel. 1966-67: President of New Zealand Institution of Professional Engineers. Council Member 1957-58 and 1961- 68. Fulton Gold Medal 1953 and Special Award 1957. 1970: Published A Span of Bridges – an illustrated history. 1978: Inaugural Hopkins Lecture: A Land of Bridges – The Story of New Zealand 1979: Retired from position at University of Canterbury. 1979-1986: Research for book on NZ bridges – not published. 1980: Awarded OBE for services to engineering. Elected to receive insignia from Queen Mother because of war associations. Harry Hopkins met Dorothy Louise Trott, from Bermuda, a fellow student at Oxford. They were married on 21 July 1938 and had four sons, Brian, David, Andrew, Tim and a daughter, Jill. Harry was a keen cricketer and played senior cricket in Christchurch, captaining the West Christchurch–University team. He also played hockey for West Australia. Dorothy died on 20 November 1984 and Harry on 9 January 1986. 1912 births 1986 deaths New Zealand academics People from Dwellingup, Western Australia Australian emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century New Zealand engineers New Zealand civil engineers {{NewZealand-academic-bio-stub