Matthew  Hopkins (C1620-1647)

THE roots of Matthew Hopkins are sketchy. There is no record of his birth as these were probably destroyed in the English Civil War, although it is generally agreed he was born in Grantham in around 1620.

His father, John Hopkins was a preacher and successful merchant in the town, who had connections with the Puritan settlers who had settled in Salem, Massachusetts.

Matthew was one of six children, and though we are aware of the others, so little is heard of him it is believed that he spent his formative years and much of his early life in Salem.

By 1644, he had returned to England and was resident at the Thorn Inn, in the village of Mistley in Suffolk. Soon after his reappearance he embarked on his mission to rid England of the evil of Witchcraft.

He simply appeared then disappeared just as quickly yet for 18 months he organised a reign of terror across much of south-east England. Matthew Hopkins, suddenly became the self-appointed Witch-finder General.

His campaign, began in March 1645 and he was to be responsible for the execution of 300 suspected witches, mostly women. more than had been executed for the same offence in the previous 150 years.

He operated mostly in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. During the Civil War this was an area that was firmly under the control of Parliament and the Puritan remit ran unchallenged.

He was paid according to how many witches he successfully prosecuted and at 20 shillings (£1) a witch, when the average daily pay was only tuppence (0.08p) a day, it was a lucrative business.

He claimed to have a special commission from Parliament (untrue) and with his two assistants, the thuggish John Stearne and Mary Phillips, he travelled from town to town announcing himself as the official Witch-finder General of England, commissioned to root out evil. At a time, and in a place, where it was common to put down every misfortune to witchcraft, he was easily believed and no one questioned him.

Hopkins died at his home in Manningtree, Essex, of pleural tuberculosis. He was buried a few hours after his death in the graveyard of the Church of St Mary at Mistley Heath.

His memory was revived in the 1968 film Witchfinder General starring Vincent Price.