Samuel Roper

Infobox Person
name = Samuel Roper


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birth_date = Dictionary of National Biography now in the public domain]
birth_place = Heanor, Derbyshire
death_date = 1 September 1658Dictionary of National Biography now in the public domain]
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spouse = Elizabeth Gooderell
parents = Thomas Roper
children =

Samuel Roper (died 1658), antiquary was the eldest son of Thomas Roper of Heanor, Derbyshire, by his second wife, Anne, daughter and co-heir of Alvered Gresbrooke of Middleton, Warwickshire. Roper claimed ancestry going back before Henry V.In about 1615 Roper made the acquaintance of Sir William Dugdale before he became connected with him by marriage. Roper lived for some time in Monks Kirby in Warwickshire. He assisted Sir William Dugdale in his history of the county, making investigations which resulted in the discovery of foundations of old walls and Roman bricks.

Sir William Dugdale, (1605-1686), in his "Antiquities of Warwickshire", mentions Roper as "a gentleman learned and judicious, and singularly well seen in antiquities."' Roper also had chambers in Lincoln's Inn, and there Dugdale first met him in 1638, Roger Dodsworth, his future collaborator in the ' Monasticon Anglicanum' (Life of Dugdale, ed. Hamper, p. 10). Roper worked out the genealogy of his own family with great industry, and his pedigree fills several pages in the "Visitation of Derbyshire" of 1654. It is illustrated by numerous extracts from deeds, and drawings of seals; but the proofs are usually taken from private munuments, which are seldom corroborated by public records. It satisfied Dugdale, who repeated it in his "Visitation of Derbyshire" of 1662. In the 'Visitation' of 1654 Roper is called ' collonell for the parlament.' Other sources record him as Colonel. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=BsoHAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA83&dq=%22Samuel+Roper%22&ei=svoIR9zPBJOK7AKQ1qSDAg&ie=ISO-8859-1 The history and gazetteer of the county of Derby By Stephen Glover] ] He died on 1 September 1658.

Roper married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Goodere of Polesworth,
Warwickshire, and had issue two sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Samuel Roper (1633-1678),who inherited his father's antiquarian tastes (cf. Life of Dugdale) was a barrister at Lincolns Inn [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50709 British History academic site] accessed 7 October 2007] He died unmarried.

Further reading

* [Dugdale's Life, ed. Hamper, pp. 8, 10, 103, 166-7, 286, 287
* Antiquities of Warwickshire, ed. Thomas, pp. 74, 286-7 . ;
* Chester Waters's Geneal. Mem. of the Extinct Family of Chester of Chichely, pp. 572, 583-5, 586 (giving Roper pedigree).] G. LB G. N.

References