Sir Robert Ropner, 1st Baronet

Sir Emil Hugo Oscar Robert Ropner, 1st Baronet c1863 - 1933, was a British shipbuilder, shipowner, and Conservative Member of Parliament. He was named after his father but preferred to be known simply as Robert Ropner Jnr.

His father, EHO Robert Ropner Snr. was born c1838 in Magdeburg, Prussia, emigrated to England worked for a coal export concern before building up a fleet of colliers and founding in 1874 the Ropner Shipping Company in Hartlepool. [http://www.plimsoll.org/OnTheLine/ShippingLines/ropners/default.asp#1 Tramping to Success] ]

In 1888 Robert Ropner Jnr. acquired a shipyard at Stockton-on-Tees in Yorkshire. Ropner established a successful shipbuilding firm, which built many trunk deck ships. [http://www.plimsoll.org/OnTheLine/ShippingLines/ropners/owningandbuildingships.asp#1 Owning and Building Ships] ] No longer limited to hauling coal, Ropner also established a company to operate tramp steamers. Although the shipyard went into liquidation soon after what was then known as the Great War, [ [http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/index.php?title=Ropner_Shipbuilding&printable=yes&printable=yes Ropner Shipbuilding] ] the shipping company continued through both World Wars, despite heavy wartime losses of vessels.

From 1900 to 1910 Robert Ropner Jnr. represented the constituency of Stockton-on-Tees in the House of Commons. In 1904 he was created Baronet of Preston Hall, Stockton-on-Tees, in the County Palatine of Durham, and of Skutterskelfe Hall, Hutton Rudby, in the North Riding of York. [http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsr2.htm Rayment] ]

Ropner died February 1924, aged 85, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son John. His third son William Ropner was the father of the Conservative politician Sir Leonard Ropner, 1st Baronet of Thorp Perrow.

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Notes

ources

* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
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* [http://www.plimsoll.org/OnTheLine/ShippingLines/ropners/default.asp#1 Tramping to Success] and [http://www.plimsoll.org/OnTheLine/ShippingLines/ropners/owningandbuildingships.asp#1 Ropners, Owning and Building Ships] , "Shipping Lines". PortCities Southhampton. Retrieved on 2007-11-18.
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