William Roupell (7 April 1831 – 25 March 1909) was

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

from 1857 until his resignation on 4 February 1862. A

forger Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...

and a fraudster, he was ruined in the

Roupell case The Roupell case (1862) was a notorious English legal dispute that centred on legal documents alleged to have been forged by William Roupell and excited great public interest. Background William Roupell was the illegitimate son of Richard Palmer ...

Early life

William was the illegitimate son of Richard Palmer Roupell (1782–1856), scrap-metal dealer and property developer, and Sarah Crane (1796–1878), daughter of Thomas, a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

. William had an elder brother, John, and two younger sisters. In 1838, following the deaths of Richard Palmer's parents, the couple married. Richard Palmer and Sarah had one legitimate child, Richard (1840–1883). Richard Palmer amassed considerable wealth in property, especially that he sold to the emerging railway network and William became interested in the business. William was

articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

a lawyer's clerk at Haslam & Rees from 1849 to 1854 though he made only one appearance, for his father, in court once qualified. William assisted his father in the property business but felt the allowance he received to be inadequate. By this time, he had come to suspect his illegitimacy and, rightly, that his father's

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

was made in favour of Richard. William was intent on establishing himself in fashionable society and spent freely to realise his aim. By 1853, he was already £1,000 in debt and as early as 1850 he had already fraudulently mortgaged one of his father's properties at Norbiton Farm to raise funds.Harris (2001) ''p.''37 In September 1853, William forged a

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferring ...

gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

from his mother of Roupell Park, again fraudulently mortgaging the property. He had represented himself the agent of an investor to gain access to the

s and now found rents from the property paid into his hands. In 1855, his finances not improving, he again represented himself as agent in a land purchase to defraud funds from his father. Further frauds and forgeries followed, including a property at Warley, until William had expropriated some £100,000. Richard Palmer died on 5 September 1856 and William took the opportunity to destroy the will made in favour of Richard and to forge an alternative in favour of his mother. He was now certain of his illegitimacy.

Probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

was granted on the forged will on 24 September and William now found access to funds through his mother straightforward.

Member of Parliament for Lambeth

Following the

Metropolis Management Act 1855 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c.120) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Metropolitan Board of Works, a London-wide body to co-ordinate the construction of the city's infrastructure. The Act al ...

, William was elected to the Lambeth

Vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

whose job was to co-ordinate the area's developing infrastructure though he appears to have taken little active role in proceedings. William resolved to stand for parliament in Lambeth and launched his campaign in 1857 with a speech making much of his understanding of working class life and declaring himself to be a reformer: On 28 March, his nomination was proposed by

Frederick Doulton Frederick Doulton (1824–1872) was a British Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Lambeth from 5 May 1862 until 1868. Biography Frederick was the third of eight children of John Doulton (1793–1873), the founder of R ...

(1824–1872), brother of Sir

Henry Doulton Sir Henry Doulton (25 July 1820 – 18 November 1897) was an English businessman, inventor and manufacturer of pottery, instrumental in developing the firm of Royal Doulton. Life Born in Vauxhall, Henry was the second of the eight children of Jo ...

, who had been an unsuccessful candidate at previous elections. Doulton appears to have written many of William's speeches and William had played his part by lavish entertainment of the electorate. Williams was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in the 1857 general election but his campaign was alleged to have cost £6,000, some claimed £9,000. He was accused of

bribing Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

and corrupting voters, opening

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s for popular resort and maintaining that they were hired as committee rooms, and paying canvassers. A committee of the House of Commons convened to investigate the allegations. However, it turned out that the agitators for the investigation, Pattison Nickalls and Robert Bristowe, had offered to withdraw their petition and to ensure William a directorship of the South London Railway Company^{(see talk page)} should William use his influence to ensure the passage of the legislation they needed. The investigation was dropped but William's reputation was becoming increasingly tainted. William held a "Lambeth Election Fête and Dinner" to celebrate his double victory. However, he spoke rarely in the House, devoting most of his energies to developing his property portfolio. He did speak on 25 June 1858, the year of

The Great Stink The Great Stink was an event in Central London during July and August 1858 in which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames. The problem had bee ...

, to criticise sewer schemes that impacted his property. By the 1859 general election, the voters of Lambeth seemed largely to have forgotten, or rationalised, their distaste for William's ethics, and they re-elected him.

The Roupell case

By 1862, William was no longer able to service the

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...

that he had taken out on the misappropriated property and on 30 March destroyed some of his papers and fled to Spain. In August, his brother Richard visited him in Spain and William returned to England. He was recognised and arrested for fraud and forgery.Harris (2001) ''pp''61–62 Richard now initiated a sequence of court cases in the hope of restoring his fortune, firstly against Waite, who was now in possession of the Norbiton Estate.Harris (2001) ''p.''63 William gave evidence for his brother, admitting the frauds and forgeries and his own

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

in the grant of

probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

of his father's estate. It was to have been Waite's defence that William was colluding with his brother Richard, possibly in return for some compensation, but the defence was never heard as the case settled, dividing the value of the estate between Waite and Richard Roupell.Harris (2001) ''pp''64–76 On 24 September 1862, William appeared at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

and pleaded guilty to the forgery. The judge, Mr Justice Byles, emphasising the seriousness of the offences, sentenced William to penal servitude for life.Harris (2001) ''pp''81–85

Release

William escaped

penal transportation Penal transportation or transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

because he was expected to be a witness in further trials. He spent much of his sentence in hard labour at the

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...

. William was released on parole in September 1876. Richard spent the rest of his life attempting, largely unsuccessfully, to recover some of his lost fortuneHarris (2001) ''p.''101 Richard died in 1883, leaving William an

annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, mo ...

of £52 per year, hardly enough to compensate for 14 years in gaol for perjuring himself in Richard's cause. William became, by all accounts, an amiable old man, involved in the church and charity work and an enthusiastic and able

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner suppleme ...

. William died of heart failure and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at a nursing home in Streatham Hill. In the end, fondly remembered, he was buried in the family vault at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of L ...

.Harris (2001) ''pp''107–110

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roupell, William 1831 births 1909 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 Forgers British fraudsters British politicians convicted of fraud Burials at West Norwood Cemetery Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales