John Roper, 1st Baron Teynham
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- Elizabeth Parke
- Elizabeth Dyon
- Christopher Roper
- Elizabeth Roper
- Jane (or Mary) Roper
John Roper, 1st Baron Teynham | |
|---|---|
 Arms of Roper: Per fesse azure and or, a pale counter-changed and three buck's heads erased of the second[1] | |
| Died | 1618 |
| Spouses |
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| Issue |
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| Father | Christopher Roper |
| Mother | Elizabeth Blore |
John Roper (died 1618) was an English peer, created Baron Teynham in 1616.
John Roper was the eldest son of Christopher Roper, Esq. of Lynsted, Kent, and his wife Elizabeth Blore.[2] The Ropers (whose original surname had been Musard)[3] were an old Kentish family with origins in Derbyshire.[3] Bearing strong Catholic connections, his uncle's wife, Margaret Roper, was the daughter of Sir Thomas More.[4]
Later life and peerage
Roper succeeded to his father's manor of Badmangore on the latter's death.[5] In 1599, he had a new house, Lynsted Lodge, built at Lynsted.[6] Upon the accession of James I, Roper was the first of the gentry in his county to proclaim the new king, for which service he was knighted in 1616 (although according to other sources he may have already been knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1587)[7] and raised to the peerage as Lord Teynham on the same day.[5]
His contribution of £10,000 to the new king's coffers may also have played a role in his elevation to the nobility.[8] Ned Wymarke joked that he was "Baron of Ten M", 10 thousand pound.[9] According to Gardiner, however, Roper's ennoblement was not any sort of sign of gratitude from the king; rather, it was granted (after the payment of £10,000) as a way to induce Roper to relinquish an office he held in the King's Bench. King James hoped to grant the office to his grasping favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and viewed Roper as an obstacle to the plan.[10]