Captain William Trevor Rooper

A carte-de-visite portrait of Captain William Rooper (1837-1872) of the Rifle Brigade.

William Trevor Roper was born in 1837, the elder son of the Reverend William Henry Rooper, by his second wife, Miss Caroline Astell of Everton House, Huntingdonshire. He was educated at Harrow and in 1854 he joined the Rifle Brigade (1st Battalion).

According to the memoirs of his half-brother, the Selected Writings of Thomas Godolphin Rooper (1896): ‘How I admired the manly tone of my brother, how winning were his gaiety and confidence, how good-natured he was to me! What stories he told me of his school adventures! […] Of his sisters and his devotion to them and theirs to him, both during the earlier and the later part of his life, it is hardly possible to speak here. Few brothers have been to their sisters what he was, entering into their lives, helping them in their studies, making their happiness his first care.’

He rose to the rank of Captain in the service of the Rifle Brigade. He was present at the siege of Sebastapol during the Crimean campaign and obtained his own company in September 1858. He subsequently transferred to the 3rd Battalion and served in India.

Captain William Trevor Rooper died of consumption on 2 July 1872 at Ouseley Lodge, Old Windsor. He was 34 years old. His grave lies in Old Windsor Churchyard.

Photographed on 29 September 1860 by Camille Silvy of London.