Person:Thomas Roper (10)

Thomas Roper was baptised on 10th October 1734 at Donnington in Sussex. He was the first child of Ann Roper, formerly Spring, and her husband Thomas Roper, a husbandman. Shortly after Thomas’s baptism the family moved to the neighbouring parish of Sidlesham, where his parents went on to have another five children baptised between 1735 and 1743.

Thomas’s mother died in 1759. His father remarried the following year.

On 5th January 1764, aged 29, Thomas married Sarah Clement at Sidlesham. At the time of their marriage she was living in Donnington. They settled in Sidlesham after their marriage, having seven children baptised there between 1764 and 1773, although two of them died young. Like his father, Thomas worked as a husbandman, looking after farm animals. Thomas’s father died in 1769.

Between 1781 and 1791 there were another five children baptised at Sidlesham whose name is given as Sarah Roper, but no father is named, with some of the children explicitly described as illegitimate. No other Sarah Roper living in the area has been identified, and it is therefore possible that Sarah and Thomas had separated. It is also possible that the mother of these children was a different Sarah Roper who was not from the Sidlesham area.

Thomas lived to be nearly 79 years old. He was buried at Sidlesham on 17th August 1813. Sarah survived him by fourteen years.

1. ↑ Donnington, Sussex: Parish Registers (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).

   [Baptisms] 1734 / Thomas Son of Tho[ma]s and Ann Roper – Oct[ober] 10

   This baptism has been linked to the Thomas who married Sarah Clement at Sidlesham in 1764 on the basis that it is around the time implied by the age given when he died, and in the neighbouring parish. It can also be seen that the Thomas baptised at Donnington moved to Sidlesham with his parents as a small child, with Thomas’s parents having other children baptised at Sidlesham between 1735 and 1743.

2. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Church of Sidlesham (Sussex). Parish registers of Sidlesham, 1566-1901. (Chichester: West Sussex County Council).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Sidlesham in the County of Sussex in the Year 1813
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   6	Thomas Roper	Sidlesham	August 17th	79 years [1733/4]	W. Marler, Vicar

3.   Thomas is described as a husbandman on his daughter Ann's marriage licence of 1784.