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151:. A committee of the House of Commons convened to investigate the allegations. However, it turned out that the agitators for the investigation, Pattison Nickalls and Robert Bristowe, had offered to withdraw their petition and to ensure William a directorship of the South London Railway Company should William use his influence to ensure the passage of the legislation they needed. The investigation was dropped but William's reputation was becoming increasingly tainted.
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whose job was to co-ordinate the area's developing infrastructure though he appears to have taken little active role in proceedings. William resolved to stand for parliament in
Lambeth and launched his campaign in 1857 with a speech making much of his understanding of working class life and declaring
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a lawyer's clerk at Haslam & Rees from 1849 to 1854 though he made only one appearance, for his father, in court once qualified. William assisted his father in the property business but felt the allowance he received to be inadequate. By this time, he had come to suspect his illegitimacy and,
108:... to support the ballot, extension of suffrage, equalisation of the poor rate, administrative reform, to uphold the honour of the country in connection with its foreign relations, to oppose compulsory church rates and support the reduction of public expenditure in order to abolish income tax.
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was made in favour of
Richard. William was intent on establishing himself in fashionable society and spent freely to realise his aim. By 1853, he was already £1,000 in debt and as early as 1850 he had already fraudulently mortgaged one of his father's properties at Norbiton Farm to raise funds.
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and now found rents from the property paid into his hands. In 1855, his finances not improving, he again represented himself as agent in a land purchase to defraud funds from his father. Further frauds and forgeries followed, including a property at Warley, until
William had expropriated some
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of his father's estate. It was to have been Waite's defence that
William was colluding with his brother Richard, possibly in return for some compensation, but the defence was never heard as the case settled, dividing the value of the estate between Waite and Richard Roupell.
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that he had taken out on the misappropriated property and on 30 March destroyed some of his papers and fled to Spain. In August, his brother
Richard visited him in Spain and William returned to England. He was recognised and arrested for fraud and forgery.
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William held a "Lambeth
Election Fête and Dinner" to celebrate his double victory. However, he spoke rarely in the House, devoting most of his energies to developing his property portfolio. He did speak on 25 June 1858, the year of
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of £52 per year, hardly enough to compensate for 14 years in gaol for perjuring himself in
Richard's cause. William became, by all accounts, an amiable old man, involved in the church and charity work and an enthusiastic and able
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50:. William had an elder brother, John, and two younger sisters. In 1838, following the deaths of Richard Palmer's parents, the couple married. Richard Palmer and Sarah had one legitimate child, Richard (1840–1883).
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Richard Palmer died on 5 September 1856 and
William took the opportunity to destroy the will made in favour of Richard and to forge an alternative in favour of his mother. He was now certain of his illegitimacy.
120:, who had been an unsuccessful candidate at previous elections. Doulton appears to have written many of William's speeches and William had played his part by lavish entertainment of the electorate.
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Richard Palmer amassed considerable wealth in property, especially that he sold to the emerging railway network and
William became interested in the business. William was
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William was the illegitimate son of
Richard Palmer Roupell (1782–1856), scrap-metal dealer and property developer, and Sarah Crane (1796–1878), daughter of Thomas, a
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240:. William was released on parole in September 1876. Richard spent the rest of his life attempting, largely unsuccessfully, to recover some of his lost fortune
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Richard now initiated a sequence of court cases in the hope of restoring his fortune, firstly against Waite, who was now in possession of the Norbiton Estate.
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from his mother of Roupell Park, again fraudulently mortgaging the property. He had represented himself the agent of an investor to gain access to the
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was granted on the forged will on 24 September and William now found access to funds through his mother straightforward.
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at a nursing home in Streatham Hill. In the end, fondly remembered, he was buried in the family vault at
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because he was expected to be a witness in further trials. He spent much of his sentence in
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but his campaign was alleged to have cost £6,000, some claimed £9,000. He was accused of
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William gave evidence for his brother, admitting the frauds and forgeries and his own
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Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales
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for popular resort and maintaining that they were hired as
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Clement, A. J. (2004) "Doulton, Sir Henry (1820–1897)",
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from 1857 until his resignation on 4 February 1862. A
181:By 1862, William was no longer able to service the
649:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
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26:Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for
564:contributions in Parliament by William Roupell
208:and pleaded guilty to the forgery. The judge,
204:On 24 September 1862, William appeared at the
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112:On 28 March, his nomination was proposed by
163:schemes that impacted his property. By the
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243:Richard died in 1883, leaving William an
372:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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674:British politicians convicted of fraud
34:and a fraudster, he was ruined in the
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99:, William was elected to the Lambeth
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252:. William died of heart failure and
66:In September 1853, William forged a
22:(7 April 1831 – 25 March 1909) was
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549:Works by or about William Roupell
512:. London: The Streatham Society.
679:Burials at West Norwood Cemetery
573:Parliament of the United Kingdom
91:Member of Parliament for Lambeth
97:Metropolis Management Act 1855
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533:. London: Stanford. pp.
123:Williams was elected to the
116:(1824–1872), brother of Sir
58:rightly, that his father's
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104:himself to be a reformer:
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582:William Arthur Wilkinson
214:penal servitude for life
510:The Roupells of Lambeth
378:(subscription required)
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376:accessed 31 July 2007
258:West Norwood Cemetery
165:1859 general election
129:1857 general election
226:penal transportation
508:Harris, J. (2001).
669:British fraudsters
16:British politician
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617:Frederick Doulton
614:Succeeded by
527:Hill, G. (1879).
114:Frederick Doulton
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659:UK MPs 1859–1865
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609:William Williams
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234:hard labour
633:Categories
206:Old Bailey
149:canvassers
137:corrupting
79:£100,000.
42:Early life
254:pneumonia
230:Gibraltar
183:mortgages
48:carpenter
250:gardener
55:articled
664:Forgers
594:Lambeth
559:Hansard
551:at the
495:107–110
245:annuity
236:at the
220:Release
198:probate
194:perjury
133:bribing
127:in the
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279:28–30
264:Notes
161:sewer
76:deeds
603:1862
599:1857
514:ISBN
305:35–6
135:and
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68:deed
60:will
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