Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

9 April - 16 June 1917. The Arras Offensive consisted of a series of linked attacks starting with the Anglo Canadian assault on the dominant Vimy Ridge feature through the battles in the Scarpe River valley and up to the assaults on the Hindenburg line in the summer of 1917.

Detail :

2nd Lt Geoffrey Stapylton Rowe Roper MC, 3rd Battalion attached 7th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment; killed in action 12th May, 1917. His portrait image is part of a collection which had been at sometime displayed at the Richmondshire Museum. See more at: Green Howards.

"His Canadian service records show that Geoffrey served as a private in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Imperial Army from which he was discharged on the 15th October 1915 to join the Yorkshire Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant."

http://www.ww1-yorkshires.org.uk/pdf-files/officers-died-ww1(coulson).pdf Geoffrey Roper was born close to the regimental HQ of the Yorkshire Regiment in Richmond on March 22nd 1890. He then appears to have emigrated to Canada and entered the war as a private soldier serving with Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry with whom he enlisted on August 26th 1914. After time with the Canadian force he gained his commission and joined with the Yorkshire regiment. Serving with the 7th battalion during the Arras offensive of 1917, on May 9th 2nd Lt Roper and his men were moved into the line in trenches north of the river Scarpe. The battalion were involved in bitter fighting around Curly and Cupid trenches and had gone into the line with 18 officers and 436 other ranks and when they came out on May 15th there were only 5 officers and 228 men left. 2nd Lt Geoffrey Stapleton Rowe Roper MC was killed in this action on May 12th 1917 at the age of 27. His grave can be seen today in Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery at Souchez, seven miles north of Arras. Geoffrey Roper was the son of George and Elizabeth Roper of Richmond in North Yorkshire, his father being a local magistrate and county alderman.

Geoffrey is recorded in the book Visiting the Fallen: Arras North By Peter Hughes: "Lieutenant Geoffrey Stapleton Rowe ROPER MC, 3rd Yorkshire Regiment, attached 7th Battalion, was killed in action on 12 May 1917, aged 27. His MC was gazetted on the 25 August 1916 and was awarded for conspicuous gallantry in action. During an assault he led his platoon with great dash and afterwards had crawled back to the trenches in order to make a report before then making his way back to his platoon under close and heavy fire. The London Gazette and Officers Died in the Great War show the middle Christian name as 'Stapylton' (Plot XVII.AA.21).

"Serving with the 7th battalion during the Arras offensive of 1917 on May 9th, 2nd Lt Roper and his men were moved into the line in trenches north of the river Scarpe. The battalion were involved in a bitter fighting around Curly and Cupid trenches and had gone into the line with 18 Officers and 436 other ranks and when they came out on May 15th there were only 5 Officers and 228 men left."

Probate ROPER Geoffrey Stapylton Rowe of The Lodge Gilling West Richmond Yorkshire died 12 May 1917 in France Administration (with Will) London 2 February to George Arthur Roper wine merchant's manager. Effects £319 18s.

He is also commemorated on a memorial plaque in Gilling West church.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley