John Hope (British Army officer)

Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope, GCH (15 July 1765 – August 1836) was a British Army officer.

Hope was the son of the author John Hope, and his wife, Mary "née" Breton. Charles Hope and Sir William Johnstone Hope were his brothers.

In November 1778, Hope was appointed a cadet in Houston's regiment of the Scottish brigade serving in Holland. Having first served as a Corporal and Sergeant, he was made an Ensign in the regiment, stationed at Bergen op Zoom, in December 1779, and marched with it to Maastricht. After a period at home, he rejoined the regiment at Maastricht on the day of his promotion to Captain, 26 April 1782, and withdrew from the Dutch service, receiving British half pay.

In 1787, Hope was placed on full pay as Captain of the 60th (Royal American) Regiment, but his company was soon reduced. In 1788, he was appointed to a troop in the 13th Light Dragoons, and from November 1792, he served as aide-de-camp to Sir William Erskine, Bt in the Flanders campaigns and in Germany. On 25 March 1795, Hope became a Major and Lieutenant-Colonel in the 28th Light Dragoons on 20 February 1796. He commanded this regiment at the Cape of Good Hope before returning home.

In April 1799, Hope was appointed to the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot in the West Indies, and in November 1804, he transferred to a battalion of the 60th at home, and was temporarily the assistant adjutant-general in Scotland. He was deputy adjutant general under Lord Cathcart in Hanover in 1805, and at Copenhagen in 1807. On 20 September 1806, he married Mary, the only daughter and heir of Robert Scott of Logie. She died on 19 March 1813; they had three daughters. Hope's second marriage, on 21 April 1814, was to Jane Hester, the daughter of John Macdougall; they had five sons and five daughters and she survived her husband.

After serving as a general officer on the staff in Scotland and in the Severn district, Hope proceeded to the Peninsula, and in July 1812 commanded a brigade of the 5th division at Salamanca. He was invalided home soon afterwards, causing Wellington to write: 'Major-General Hope I am sorry to lose, as he is very attentive to his duties'.

Hope went on to hold brigade commands in Ireland and Scotland until being promoted to Lieutenant-General in 1819. He was made Colonel of the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot in 1820, and transferred to the 72nd (Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders) Regiment of Foot in 1823. He was appointed a GCH in 1820 and a Knight Bachelor on 30 March 1821. He died at his seat in Scotland in August 1836, aged seventy-one.

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