L'Estrange, Roger (1616–1704)

English pamphleteer. A Royalist, he was captured during the Civil War and condemned to death as a spy. He was reprieved and imprisoned, but escaped in 1648 and fled. He returned to England in 1653 and made terms with Cromwell. He was made licenser of the press at the Restoration.

He was born in Hunstanton, Norfolk, and probably educated at Cambridge. In 1663 he established the newspaper the Public Intelligencer, and also the News, which in 1665 became the London Gazette. From 1675 to 1680 he issued the City Mercury, or Advertisements concerning Trade, and in 1679 founded the Observator. He lost his office as licenser after the Glorious Revolution (1688).