ROUPE, Gilbert (by 1514-75/78), of Dartmouth, Devon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Mar. 1553

Family and Education

b. by 1514; prob. bro. of Nicholas. m. 3da.1

Offices Held

Receiver, Dartmouth 1544-5, mayor 1551-2, common councilman by 1558.2

Biography

Gilbert Roupe could claim gentle descent but it was as a merchant trading from Dartmouth that he made his career. In 1535 he sued another merchant in the town’s court on behalf of Christopher Savery for damage done to a boat. His election with Nicholas Adams alias Bodrugan to the Parliament of March 1553 followed immediately on his mayoralty and represented a return to the port’s policy of choosing a townsman with a local lawyer: in the following Parliament Adams was to sit with Nicholas Roupe. Although Gilbert Roupe was not re-elected to Parliament he remained active in municipal affairs until his death. By his will made on 17 Apr. 1575 and proved on 17 Nov. 1578 he asked for burial in St. Saviour’s church in Dartmouth, provided for his daughters, two of whom Dorothy and Thomasin were unmarried, and named Dorothy executrix.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Roger Virgoe

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. PCC 43 Langley.
  • 2. Exeter city lib. Dartmouth ms 2002, ff. 19v, 28, 60v; Add. 24773, ff. 94, 95v.
  • 3. E122/201/13; 179/99/321; Exeter city lib. Dartmouth mss 2002, ff. 20v, 52-55, 60v; 2003, ff. 11, 17; PCC 43 Langley.