PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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The Rogers family were wealthy merchants of Plymouth who down several generations also became important in local politics. They are said to have descended from a Rogers who was martyred during the reign of Queen Mary between 1553 and 1558. John Rogers and Charles Trelawny were elected as Tory Members of Parliament for Plymouth in 1698. King William was displeased about this and is said to have made John a baronet in order to win back his support for the Whig Party. He must have died not long after, as it was the second baronet, also Sir John, who was nominated by the Whigs for Member of Parliament in 1713. Four years later, in 1717, he was appointed as Recorder of Plymouth in replacement of Sir Francis Drake, a descendant of his Elizabethan forebear. The Rogers family were to hold the Recordership for 80 years. In 1721 Sir John withdrew from the election and the following year was elected as Mayor instead. Sir John and his wife Mary had at least three sons, John, Frederic and William. In 1727 Mr George Treby was the candidate for the office of Mayor but Sir John, the second Baronet, had persuaded the previous Mayor to appoint 17 extra freemen and it was the freemen who elected the Mayor. So John, the son, stood as well but he and Treby polled equal votes. Not having invented the "re-count", the was only one way to settle the matter, by drawing swords. Luckily, everyone's attention was called to a fire in Gasking Street so bloodshed was avoided. However, an arguement ensued, during which time Plymouth was without a Mayor. It was finally resolved when the King's Bench ordered that John Rogers should be appointed. He was Mayor again in 1743-44, by when he had become the fourth baronet. Exactly when the family bought Wisdom Barton in the parish of Cornwood is not known but the young Frederic Rogers was christened in the parish on October 24th 1716. He joined the Royal Navy and in 1753 was appointed as Commissioner of Plymouth Dockyard. He became the fourth baronet and Recorder of Plymouth in 1773 following the death of his older brother, John. Incidentally, Wisdom Barton was built between 1627 and 1643 and the building accounts are still held by the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office (Accession 733). The total cost of the building was £2,138 17s 5d, the payment to the glazier for glass amounting to just over £15. The third son, William, became the Collector of Customs at Plymouth. Sir Frederic's son was Frederick Leman Rogers, who married Miss Jane Lillicrap at the parish church of Plympton Erle on October 27th 1770. After succeeding his father as 5th baronet, he, too, became Mayor of Plymouth, for 1774-75, was appointed Recorder in 1777, and elected Member of Parliament in 1780,1790 and 1796. He died of gout in 1797, the last of the family to hold the post of Recorder. He had at least two sons, the eldest and succeessor being John Leman Rogers, born on April 18th 1780. He did not follow the others into local politics but instead went to London, where he was elected president of the London Madrigal Society. He became the 6th baronet in 1797 but suffered ill health from 1841 onwards and died on December 10th 1847. Sir John was succeeded as 7th baronet by his younger brother, another Frederick Leman Rogers. He was born at Plymouth on February 11th 1782 but was christened at Cornwood on February 27th. He married Miss Sophia Deare, the daughter of Lt-Col Charles Russell Deare, at St Marylebone in London on April 12th 1810. They had three children, Frederick, John Charles (18181-25/5/1894); and Edward (1820-9/3/1895). Sir Frederick Leman Rogers died on December 13th 1851. The eldest son, Frederick, became the 8th baronet. He was born on January 31st 1811 and christened at St Marylebone on May 26th 1811. After early education at Eton College, Berkshire, he graduated from Oriel College at the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1834 and a Master of Arts degree the following year. He was admitted to Lincoln Inn as a barrister in 1837 and was awarded a Bachelor of Civil Law degree by Oxford University in 1838. After holding the office of Registrar of Joint Stock Companies in 1845 he became Emigration Commssioner in 1846, a post which he held until 1860. In the meantime, he married Miss Georgiana Mary Colville, daughter of Andrew Colville and the Honourable Mary Louisa Eden, on September 29th 1847 at Dunfirmline, Fife, Scotland. He succeeded to his father's title of Baronet Rogers of Blachford Park, in the parish of Cornwood, Devon, on December 13th 1851. He was Commssioner for the Sale of West Indian Estates in 1857 and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies between 1860 and 1871. On June 23rd 1869 he was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) and on June 29th 1871 became a Privy Counsellor (PC). Following his retirement from the Colonial Office, on November 4th 1871 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Blachford of Wisdome at the behest of his grateful Prime Minister, Mr Gladstone. His life up to that point was 'the uneventful one of a diligent and laborious public servant' This theme continued into his retirement at Blachford. Although he sat on several Commissions, his main interest became his home and his new role as a landed proprietor. He was symapthetic towards the poor in his locality and was apparently always ready to challange assumptions that were made for the convenience of the more wealthy. As a result he allowed labourers on his estate to rent pasture for a few cows with which to support their families. The title lapsed upon his death, at the age of 78, on November 21st 1889. He died at Blachford Park and is buried at Cornwood. There is a memorial in the centre of the village. However, his two younger brothers both inherited the baronetcy. John Charles, who became the 9th baronet, died on may 25th 1894, and Edward, the 10th baronet, died March 9th 1895. The family have left behind a lasting memorial in the Dame Hannah Roger's School, now at Ivybridge. It was founded at Bedford Terrace, Plymouth, in 1773, pursuant to the will of Lady Rogers, wife of the third baronet, who left £10,000 to be vested for the education and maintenance of poor girls of Devon and Cornwall.
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