Family and Education

b. c.1500, 1st s. of George Rogers of Langport by his w. Elizabeth. m. Mary, da. and coh. of Sir John Lisle of the Isle of Wight, 1s. George ?3da. suc. fa. Sept. 1524. Kntd. 22 Feb. 1547.1

Offices Held

Esquire of the body by Dec. 1534; bailiff of Hammes and Sangatte, Calais Dec. 1534-Oct. 1540; j.p.q. Dorset Mar. 1538-40, Som. Mar. 1538-53, from c.1559; sewer of the chamber by 1540, carver by 1544, gent. of privy chamber Oct. 1549-July 1553, v.-chamberlain Nov. 1558-Jan. 1559, comptroller of the Household by 21 Jan. 1559; PC by 27 Nov. 1558.2

Biography

The death of Queen Mary saw Rogers already with Elizabeth at Hatfield and he was soon appointed to her Privy Council, made vice-chamberlain and by January 1559 comptroller of the Household. This last was one of the few recommendations of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton to be put into effect. The rudimentary journal of the 1559 Parliament does not mention Rogers by name, but as a Privy Councillor he probably played a part in the proceedings. He was active in both sessions of the 1563 Parliament, being explicitly noted as ‘a chief member of that assembly and fellowship’ and ‘the chief Privy Councillor of the House’ and it was he who nominated Thomas Williams as Speaker on 12 Jan. 1563. He was appointed to draw up the articles of a petition to the Queen on her marriage and the succession (19 Jan.) and he reported the Queen’s answer (16 Feb.). The subsidy bill was committed to him on 27 Jan. As well as sending numerous bills to the Lords, he was put in charge of a bill on poaching (3 Feb.), was appointed to a privilege committee (1 Feb.) and spoke on procedure (27 Jan.). At the beginning of the 1566 session (1 Oct.) he again nominated the Speaker, Onslow, to replace Williams who had died. He was one of those Privy Councillors administering the oaths (4 Oct.) and he proposed the subsidy (17 Oct.). He spoke on the succession (19 Oct.) and headed the delegation from the Commons appointed on 23 Oct. to discuss the subject with the Lords, reporting on the outcome the same day. He was appointed to the conference with the Lords on 31 Oct., and headed the Commons delegation summoned to Whitehall on 5 Nov. to hear the Queen’s message on the succession, which he and Sir William Cecil reported to the House the following day. His only other known activity in this session, apart from sending bills to the Lords, was his membership of the committee on apparel (5 Nov.). Rogers attended Privy Council meetings regularly until the end of 1565, then irregularly, and in the last year of his life, not at all, though he retained his court post. He made his last will 21 Apr. 1568. Apart from some small bequests to his sons-in-law and servants, all his property went to his only son, George, who also succeeded to the estates. He died 3 May 1568, the will being proved on the 21st.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: Roger Virgoe

Notes

• 1. DNB; C142/41/1; PCC 24 Bodfelde, 11 Babington; Vis. Som. (Harl. Soc. xi), 128; Lit. Rems. Ed. VI (Roxburghe Club), i. p. cccii.
• 2. LP Hen. VIII , vii. 598; xiii(1), p. 409; xvi. 98; xvii. 700; xix(1), p. 504; xx(2) p. 117; Genealogist, n.s. xxx. 19; Lansd. 2, f. 34; APC, ii. 345; CSP Span. 1558-67, p. 6; CPR, 1558-60, p. 59; Strype, Annals, i(2), p. 390.
• 3. CPR, 1558-60, p. 59; 1560-3, pp. 484-5; Strype, i(2), p. 390; EHR, lxv. 93; Camb. Univ. Lib. Gg. iii. 34, p. 209; D’Ewes, 45, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91, 95, 103, 104, 107, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128; CJ, i. 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76; PCC 11 Babington; C142/41/1, 56, 148/28.