Selected Biographies

Roper, David – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 12.3.1882.[1]  Parents: David Roper (Asphalt Floor Layer) and Amelia [née Blackaby].  Family Connections: Brother to William Roper [b1872] and Harry Roper [b1882]; also, uncle of Harry Edward Roper [b1904 and Frederick Charles Roper [b1922].  Home: St Catherines Road, Long Melford (1891), Little St Marys, Long Melford (1901), living with William Roper (brother) in St Marys Street, Long Melford (1911 to 1939).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1901) Maltster’s Labourer (1911 to 1939).  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, David may have enlisted in 1915 as Pte.DM2/117894 with the Army Service Corps. If this assumption is correct, then he was posted to Alexandria on 20.11.1915 as part of the Egypt Expeditionary Force.[2]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk on 6.7.1941.[3]

Roper, Frederick Charles – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 6.1.1922.[4]  Parents: William Roper (Painter at Iron Foundry) [see below for details] and Rose Annie [née East].  Family Connections: Brother to Harry Edward Roper [b1904]; also, brother-in-law of George Edward Bernard Boreham [b1912] and Stanley Horace Cadge [b1914], and nephew of Harry Roper [b1877] and David Roper [b1882].  Home: Little St Marys, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Cowman (1939).  Married: Dorothy R. Swann in 1945.  Service Record: Frederick was a member of the ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard when it was formed in August 1942.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[5]  Died: Ilfracombe, Devon on 22.7.2017.

Roper, Harry – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 1.6.1877.[6]  Parents: David Roper (Asphalt Floor Layer) and Amelia [née Blackaby].  Family Connections: Brother to William Roper [b1872] and Harry Roper [b1882].  Home: Asphalt Works, Borley, Essex (1881), St Catherines Road, Long Melford (1891), 24 Aldby Street, Cleater Moor, Cumberland (1911).  Occupation: Horseman (1911).  Service Record: Harry enlisted as Pte.3798 with 3^rd [Militia] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  He appears on a list military deserters published in the Police Gazette on 4.12.1899.  No definitive military record can be found of him serving during the First World War.

Roper, Harry Edward – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 4.2.1904.[7]  Parents: William Roper (Painter at Iron Foundry) [see below for details] and Rose Annie [née East].  Family Connections: Brother to Frederick Charles Roper [b1922]; also, brother-in-law of George Edward Bernard Boreham [b1912] and Stanley Horace Cadge [b1914], and nephew of Harry Roper [b1877] and David Roper [b1882].  Home: St Marys Street, Long Melford (1911 to 1939).  Occupation: Painter at David Ward’s Iron Foundry (1921), Blacksmith at Ward’s Foundry (1939).  Married: Ethel Linda Alice Cahill in 1926.  Service Record: Harry was a member of the ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard when it was formed in August 1942.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[8]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1964.

Roper, William – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 21.7.1872.[9]  Parents: David Roper (Asphalt Floor Layer) and Amelia [née Blackaby].  Family Connections: Father to Harry Edward Roper [b1904] and Frederick Charles Roper [b1922]; also, brother to Harry Roper [b1877] and David Roper [b1882], and father-in-law of George Edward Bernard Boreham [b1912] and Stanley Horace Cadge [b1914].  Home: Asphalt Works, Borley, Essex (1881), Military Barracks, St Peter Port, Guernsey (1901), St Marys Street/Little St Marys, Long Melford (1911 to 1939).  Occupation: Soldier [1890 to 1902], Painter at David Ward’s Iron Foundry (1911 to 1939).  Married: Rose Annie East in 1903.  Service Record: William enlisted in 1890 as Pte.2962 with 1^st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, serving in Rangoon and South Africa before his discharge in 1902.  He was recalled to his battalion on 2.3.1915 as Pte.18611 being posted to the Western Front and serving on the Ypres Salient from 18.5.1915 as part of 28^th Division’s 84^th Brigade.  Within six days of joining his unit in the field he took part in the bloody assault on Bellewaarde Farm where 140 of his comrades fell.[10]  On 21.10.1915 Private Roper was transferred to 2^nd Battalion, Suffolks, as part of 76^th Brigade, 3^rd Division.  During the Somme Offensive of 1916 2^nd Suffolks saw action at the Battles of Bezentin and Delville Wood.[11]  In November 1916, he transferred to the Police Company, 1^st [Garrison] Battalion, Suffolks, then towards the end of 1917 was moved as Pte.476338 to 262^nd [Area Employment] Company, Labour Corps, being discharged in April 1919.[12]  In 1922 William is recorded as a committee member of the Long Melford Ex-Service Men’s Club.  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1941.[13]

Related Biographies

Boreham, George Edward Bernard – Born: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on 21.5.1912.[14]  Parents: George Boreham (Horseman on Farm) and Esther [née Mason].  Family Connections: Nephew of Charles Boreham [b1880]; also, son-in-law of William Roper [b1872], and brother-in-law of Harry Edward Roper [b1904] and Frederick Charles Roper [b1922].  Home: Balesden Hall, Acton, Suffolk (1921), 9 Westgate Lane/Street, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Tractor Driver (1939).  Married: Violet Mary Roper of Long Melford in 1936.  Service Record: Due to his being employed in a reserved occupation, an agricultural worker, George joined the Local Defence Volunteers in Long Melford when it was formed in August 1942 as ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[15]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1955.[16]

Cadge, Stanley Horace[17] – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 7.6.1914.[18]  Parents: Philip Charles Cadge Grice and Maud Mary [née Allen].  Family Connections: Son-in-law of William Roper [b1872] and brother-in-law of Harry Edward Roper [b1904] and Frederick Charles Roper [b1922].  Home: St Marys Street, Long Melford (1921 to 1939).  Occupation: Bricklayer (1939).  Married: Florence Labyrinth Roper in 1942.  Service Record:  Stanley was a member of ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard when it was formed in 1942, his name being recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[19]  He was also conscripted in 1942 as Gnr.115.476 with the Royal Artillery.[20]  Died: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire on 14.10.2001.[21]

Notes- [1] 1939 Register.  [2] Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [3] Date of death from Bury Free Press 19.7.1941.  [4] 1939 Register.  [5] Published by Marten & Son, Ltd., of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.  [6] Date of birth from the Baptism Register of 2.9.1877 at Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [7] 1939 Register.  [8] Marten & Son op. cit.  [9] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 1.9.1872, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford and the 1939 Register.  [10] For details of 1^st Suffolk’s movements see War Diary [TNA – WO 95/2277/3] and for a description of the action of May 1915 see Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. Murphy The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp.79-80.  [11] For 2^nd Suffolk’s movements between October 1915 and November 1917 see War Diary [WO 95/1437/1] and Murphy ibid., pp.133-42, 182-89 and 219-25.  For a brief account of the bravery of the Suffolks at Delville Wood see the entry for Harry Woodgate [b1896] elsewhere in this Roll.  [12] Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [13] Photographs by kind permission of William’s grandson Desmond Boreham.  [14] 1939 Register.  [15] Published by Marten and Son Limited of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.  [16] Photograph by kind permission of George’s son Desmond Boreham.  [17] Name recorded on the Birth Register as Stanley H. C. Grice; all later official documents refer to him as Stanley Horace Cadge.  [18] 1939 Register and Death Index.  [19] Marten & Son op. cit.  [20] Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942.  [21] National Probate Calendar.