Abel Roper (1665–1726) was an English journalist, who wrote in the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

interest.

Life

A younger son of Isaac Roper, he was born at

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, and baptised on 13 September 1665. He was adopted in 1677 by his uncle, Abel Roper, who published books from 1638 at the Spread Eagle, opposite St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street, and was master of the

Stationers' Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in ...

in that year. When he was fourteen, young Roper was apprenticed to his uncle, but on the latter's death, in 1680, he was turned over to the printer Christopher Wilkinson. Under his uncle's will he received £100. on the completion of his apprenticeship, with all the elder Roper's copyrights; and having married, when he was 30, the widow of his last master, he set up business in one side of a saddler's shop near Bell Yard, opposite

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

Gate. Later he moved next door to the Devil Tavern, at the sign of the Black Dog. Roper is said to have worked for the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

, and to have been the first printer of ''

Lilliburlero "Lillibullero" (also spelled Lillibulero, Lilliburlero, or Lilli Burlero) is a march (music), march attributed to Henry Purcell that became popular in England at the time of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Background Henry Purcell is alleg ...

''. The preface to ''The Life of William Fuller, the pretended evidence'', 1692, is signed by Roper. A warrant was issued for his arrest in May 1696, on an information that, under the name of John Chaplin, he had printed a paper, on the Jacobite assassination plot of George Barclay and others, called ''An Account of a most horrid Conspiracy against the Life of his most sacred Majesty'', with intent to give notice to the people mentioned in it to fly from justice. He had been committed to prison on 18 April, but was released soon afterwards. Roper sided with Tom Brown in his quarrel with

Richard Kingston Richard Kingston (1635? – 1710?) was an English political pamphleteer, clerical impostor, and spy. Life He was born about 1635. According to his own statements he was a M.A., and was ordained by the Bishop of Galloway, 17 July 1662, at Westmin ...

, and after 1700 he undertook the publication of Brown's works. Brown subsequently assisted Roper in ''The Auction of Ladies'', a series of lampoons which ran to eight or nine numbers. Roper got into trouble: for his ''Newsletters into the Country'', and with Secretary

William Trumbull Sir William Trumbull (8 September 163914 December 1716) was an English statesman who held high office as a member of the First Whig Junto. Early life Trumbull was born at Easthampstead Park in Berkshire and baptised on 11 September 1639. He w ...

for printing a play without license. He was summoned before the lord mayor and court of aldermen for reflecting upon the

Society for the Reformation of Manners The Society for the Reformation of Manners was founded in the Tower Hamlets area of London in 1691. In May 1695 Roper had started a newspaper called the '' Post Boy'', which appeared three times a week, and was the rival of the Whig '' Flying Post'', begun by

George Ridpath George Ridpath (died 1726) was a Scottish journalist, who wrote in the Whig interest. Life He was brought up by his mother at Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, until he went to Edinburgh University. In 1681, he was tutor, or servant, at Edinburgh to ...

in the same month. Roper's enemies said he wrote for either party, according as he was paid.

John Dunton John Dunton (4 May 1659 – 1733) was an English bookseller and author. In 1691 he founded The Athenian Society to publish ''The Athenian Mercury'', the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England. In 1693, for fo ...

said that the ''Post Boy'' was written by a man named Thomas, and on his death by

Abel Boyer Abel Boyer (1667? – 16 November 1729) was a French-English lexicographer, journalist and miscellaneous writer. Biography Abel Boyer was probably born on 24 June 1667 at Castres, in Upper Languedoc, southern France. His father, Pierre Boyer, o ...

, compiler of the ''Annals of Queen Anne'', which Roper published. After editing the ''Post Boy'' for Roper for four years, Boyer started a ''True Post Boy'' of his own. When

Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine ''The Spectator''. Early life Steele was born in Du ...

lost the post of gazetteer in October 1710, Roper, on whose behalf Lord Denbigh had written to

Lord Dartmouth Earl of Dartmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth. History The Legge family descended from Edward Legge, Vice-President of Munster. ...

in June, was an unsuccessful candidate for the vacant post. Next year (November 1711) Roper gave offence by papers printed in the ''Post Boy'' on behalf of the proposed peace in the

War of Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, and, upon complaint of diplomats from the king of Portugal and the Duke of Savoy, he was arrested on a warrant from Lord Dartmouth, and bound over to appear at the court of queen's bench. He escaped further punishment by begging pardon and publishing a recantation. It was suspected that others behind the scenes made use of Roper's paper for party purposes.

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

sometimes sent malicious paragraphs to the ''Post Boy''. The pamphlet ''Cursory but Curious Observations of Mr. Abel R—er, upon a late famous Pamphlet entitled “Remarks on the Preliminary Articles offered by the F. K. in hopes to procure a general Peace,”'' 1711, was a satire against Roper; the ''Tory Annals, faithfully extracted out of Abel Roper's famous writings, vulgarly called “Post Boy and Supplement,”'' appeared in 1712. Roper had his wig pulled off and was beaten by

Lord William Powlett Lord William Powlett (baptized 18 August 1666 – 25 September 1729) was an English Member of Parliament. He was the younger son of Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton, and his second wife, Mary Scrope. Career Lord William held a number of of ...

in April 1712, for some old offence. The Ipswich MP William Thompson threatened to cut his throat to get a retraction from Roper of remarks about his property ownership and qualification, which was not forthcoming.historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Thompson, William III (c.1676–1739), of the Middle Temple''.
/ref> ''The Character of Richard St ee, Esq., with some remarks by Toby, Abel's kinsman'', appeared on 12 Nov. 1713, and was often mentioned in the ''Post Boy''. This libel was either by Dr.

William Wagstaffe William Wagstaffe (1685 – 5 May 1725) was a British physician. Wagstaffe was born in Cublington, Buckinghamshire, UK, The only son of the town's rector, and related to the Wagstaffe family of Knightcote, Warwickshire. He was educated at a ...

, in whose ''Miscellaneous Works'' it appeared in 1726, or by Swift; anyway not by Roper. The writer of a hostile pamphlet called ''Some Memoirs of the Life of Abel, Toby's Uncle, by Dr. Andrew Tripe'', which appeared on 11 December 1725, says that "TobyW was Roper's nephew, Edward King, son of Thomas King, a farrier of Coventry, and Ruth Roper, Abel's sister; King helped in his uncle's business. Soon after Queen Anne's death the ''Post Boy'' gave offence to the Whig government, and Roper was examined on 27 August 1714. He said he had for some time not been concerned in the paper; and

John Morphew John Morphew (died 1720) was an English publisher. He was associated with significant literary and political publications of the early 18th century. At one point publishing for both Whig and Tory factions, he later became identified with the Tories ...

, the publisher of it, said he did not know the author of the offending articles, but that it was long since he had accounted to Roper for the profits. Subsequently, Roper sank into obscurity, and he died on 5 February 1726.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Roper, Abel 1665 births 1726 deaths English male journalists People from Atherstone