Sir Richard Valentine Nind Hopkins, GCB, PC (13 February 1880 – 30 March 1955) was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. Born in 1880 to businessman Alfred Nind Hopkins and Eliza Mary Castle, Hopkins was educated at

King Edward's School, Birmingham King Edward's School (KES) is an independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the British Public school (UK), public school tradition, located in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Founded by Edward VI of England, King Edward VI in 1552, it ...

and

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

. First serving with the Board of Inland Revenue, 'Hoppy' was appointed chairman in 1922. In 1927 Hopkins was transferred to the Treasury, where he became the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury in 1942 and served in that position until 1945. He is credited with the (re)introduction of economist

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...

in the Treasury during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, whose influence proved to be essential in many economic policy decisions (Middleton 2004).

References

* * ''John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Britain 1937-1946'' (published in the United States as ''Fighting for Freedom''), Robert Skidelsky, Papermac, 2001, (US Edition: ) 1880 births 1955 deaths Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Permanent Secretaries of HM Treasury Chairmen of the Board of Inland Revenue Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom {{UK-gov-bio-stub