He married Minnie Campbell of County Antrim, and they had two children. His elder brothers included the noted physicist and engineer John Hopkinson, and Sir Alfred Hopkinson, vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, and amongst his nephews were engineer and scientist Bertram Hopkinson, and Austin Hopkinson, MP. Edward Hopkinson died at his residence in Alderley Edge, Cheshire in 1922, aged 62.
