William Sloper (c. 1658 – 14 January 1743) of

West Woodhay House West Woodhay House is a Grade I listed building in the parish of West Woodhay, West Berkshire, UK. History and description The house was erected in 1635 and is attributed to Inigo Jones, although it is likely to have been designed and built by E ...

, Berkshire, England was an English officeholder and politician who sat in 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. ...

between 1715 and 1743. Sloper was the son of William Sloper of

Great Bedwyn Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun (River Kennet), River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough, Wilt ...

, Wiltshire. He matriculated at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

on 5 June 1679, aged 20 and was awarded B.A. from Gloucester Hall in 1683. He married Rebecca Abbott before 1708. Sloper was appointed Clerk to the

Paymaster General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Paymaster General is Jeremy Quin MP. History The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the posit ...

by 1702, was Deputy Paymaster General from 1714 to 1720 and Deputy

Cofferer of the Household The Cofferer of the Household was formerly an office in the English and British Royal Household. Next in rank to the Comptroller, the holder paid the wages of some of the servants above and below stairs, was a member of the Board of Green Cloth, ...

by 1730 until his death. In 1714 he bought the

estate in West Berkshire. Sloper was returned unopposed as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

at the

1715 general election Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

. At the 1722 general election he was returned unopposed as MP for

Camelford Camelford ( kw, Reskammel) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Bodmin and is governed by ...

, Cornwall. He was defeated at the poll at Great Bedwyn at the 1727 general election, but was returned on petition on 26 March 1729. He was re-elected for Bedwyn at the 1734 general election. He did not stand at the

1741 general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

but was brought in as MP for Whitchurch, Hampshire at a by-election on 2 January 1742. Sloper died on 14 January 1743, leaving two sons by his wife Rebecca. His son and heir

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

was also an MP for Great Bedwyn and was involved in a notorious affair with the actress

Susannah Maria Cibber Susannah Maria Cibber (née Arne; February 1714 – 30 January 1766) was a celebrated English singer and actress. She was the sister of the composer Thomas Arne. Although she began her career as a soprano, her voice lowered in the early part of ...

References

* 1743 deaths Politicians from Wiltshire Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 Members of Parliament for Great Bedwyn Year of birth uncertain Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub