GOLLOP, Roger (1613-81), of Southampton and Stanbridge, Hants.

Gollop’s family were from North Bowood in Netherbury, near Bridport in Dorset. His grandfather was a yeoman, but two of his uncles were Oxford-educated clergymen and his father, who was included in the 1623 heralds’ visitation, described himself as ‘esquire’ when he drew up his will in 1635, doubtless on the basis of his substantial service as a justice of the peace.25PROB11/73/283 (William Gollop); PROB11/184/316 (Roger Gollop); Al. Ox.; Clergy of the C of E database; Vis. Dorset 1623 (Harl. Soc. xx), 44; Dorset RO, QSM/1/1; C181/4, ff. 3, 104. After Trinity College, Oxford, from where he matriculated on the same day as his kinsman William Lawrence*, Gollop was admitted to the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar in 1646.26Al. Ox.; I. Temple database. His studies appear to have precluded participation in the civil war.

Within a year of his father’s death in 1640, Gollop may have removed his normal place of residence when out of London from Dorset to Southampton.27E115/162/82. Probably as a result of contacts made through his uncle George Gollop*, in September 1643, alongside royalist Sir John Mill* and parliamentarian Richard Maijor*, Roger Gollop became a trustee of one of the town’s most prominent civic figures, Nicholas Pescod.28Hants RO, 4M60/126; 127M71/T16. Gollop was subsequently an executor of Pescod’s estate, a function he also fulfilled for his uncles, Gibbs Gollop, a Somerset minister, and George Gollop, from whom he inherited in 1650 an estate at Stanbridge.29Hants RO, 16M55/3; PROB11/194/348; PROB 11/213/34; Southampton RO, SC2/1/8, f. 62; C6/159/63; C9/30/60; C9/35/22; E134/16and17Chas2/Hil1. By 1652 he had also acquired the manor there.30C54/3650/28; VCH Hants. iv. 458. His status in the county, and his willingness to accommodate to the protectorate, was reflected in appointments to the commission of the peace (1655) and the assessment commission (1657).31C231/6, p. 307; A. and O. In June 1658 he was added to the Hampshire commission for the ejection of scandalous ministers.32CSP Dom. 1658-9, p. 42.

On 10 December 1658 Gollop’s connections with Southampton enabled him to secure one of the borough’s seats in Parliament, despite the fact that he was neither a resident nor a civic official. His nomination as a burgess, like that of his fellow MP, Thomas Knollys*, was probably merely honorary.33Southampton RO, SC3/1/1, f. 222v. Neither man made any visible impression on the House of Commons during the brief session.

Although never re-elected to Parliament, Gollop participated in various aspects of local government after the Restoration.34SR; C181/7, p. 584. In September 1662 he was appointed recorder of Southampton in succession to Thomas Levingston*, and in 1668 secured the equivalent position in Romsey.35Southampton RO, SC2/1/8, ff. 113, 185; TC Box 1/91-2; Procs. Hants. Field Club and Arch. Soc. Supp. (1913), 24. In 1675 he was removed as a justice of the peace for Andover, but he does not seem to have fallen out of political favour, and retained his recorderships for the rest of his life.36Hants RO, 37M85/2/QS/4. He had died by 6 May 1681, when he was replaced as recorder of Southampton by Giles Eyre†.37Procs. Hants. Field Club and Arch. Soc. Supp. (1913), 24; Davies, Hist. Southampton, 83. The date and place of his burial are unknown. His widow, Elizabeth, was living in June 1685 when their son George made his will at Stanbridge, mentioning his two sons and three daughters, but after his death a few years later his descendants disappear from view; none are known to have sat in Parliament.38PROB11/391/275.