Ernest Percy Stuart Roupell was from Richmond Hill, London. He was educated at Cheltenham and/or Marlborough College (divergent sources) with Charles Campbell, also a member of the British Military Campaign on Benin. He joined the Niger Coast Protectorate as political officer in 1893. He became the assistant commissioner of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, Niger Coast Protectorate, in 1896. After the colonial expedition, in 1897–98, he was appointed British resident and political officer, (British museum website[292]; Hicks, 2020, 161[119]; Home, 1982, 129[126]).