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Title:

Roope, Major General Benjamin,

Century:

C19

Location:

Budleigh Salterton

Description:

Benjamin Roope was born at “Greenway”, Dittisham (later famous as the home of Agatha Christie) on 15th September 1780, the first of five children (1), and he was baptised in Churston Ferrers Church (2). His father was Roope Harris Roope who probably built Greenway House in the late 18th Century. A merchant adventurer, Roope Harris Roope developed trade with the New World, possibly importing plants and seeds from America and Portugal (3).

Benjamin went to India and joined the Bengal Army as a cadet in 1798, he became a Cornet in 1799, and a Lieutenant in 1800 (4). About ten years later he married Maria Rooton and they had a daughter Maria born in Cawnpore in 1813 (1). In May 1812 he was promoted to Captain and was attached to the 23rd Regular Native Infantry (NI) and appears to have spent some time on attachment to the 3rd Ceylon Volunteer Force(4). He had reached the rank of Major in 1823 attached to the 31st Regiment NI and later the 62nd Regiment NI (5).

In November 1824 he was in command of the 62nd Regiment at the time of the Barrackpore Mutiny often described as a dress rehearsal for the 1857 Indian Mutiny. At the time of the 1st Anglo-Burmese War, the 47th Regiment NI was ordered to march to Chittagong by land because caste taboos forbade high-caste men from travelling by sea. The men had to carry all their own personal effects because the army had already requisitioned all the local bullock transport and, to add insult to injury, the camp followers were being paid more than the soldiers. The situation was handled very badly and all the men’s complaints were ignored, and they refused to march. They were surrounded on the parade ground and bombarded by artillery and had to flee under fire. The ringleaders were all hanged, others were imprisoned and the Regiment was disbanded. The incident reflected badly on the British Governor General, Lord Amherst, even though it wasn’t his fault, and the army was criticised for its rigidity and harshness (6).

In 1825 Roope was promoted as Lieutenant Colonel into the 44th Regiment NI (7), and he was the Colonel of the 23th NI by 1834(8). By the time of the 1841 census, aged 60, he was back in Devon living at Mount Pleasant House, Kenton with his unmarried daughter Maria and his sister Sarah. He then moved to Budleigh Salterton and in 1842 was occupying what is now “Lydney”, 8 East Terrace, the house being owned by Sir John Kennaway at that time (9). He is recorded as a Major General in the 1844 Directory for the town.

He did not however become a permanent resident of the town as he can be found living with his daughter Maria in Bath in 1851, and he died at Kittery Court, Kingswear on the 5th December 1855, and was buried back near his birthplace in Dittisham (1). Roope is recorded as having attained the brevet rank of Lieutenant General in the Bengal Army in 1851, and was still listed as Colonel of the 23rd Regiment NI in 1855 (8) but this was undoubtedly an honorary appointment as he was not active in India at the time.

1.FamilySearch.org

2.Churston Ferrers Parish Register

3.National Trust website

4.East India Register & Directory 1819

5.Alphabetical list of the officers of the Bengal Army, with the dates of their respective promotion, retirement, resignation or death, etc. Editors Dodwell & Miles, Published by Longman, Orme, Brown, and Co., Paternoster Row, London 1837