ROGERS, Sir John (bef.1507-65), of Bryanston, Dorset.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1545
1547
1555
1559

Family and Education

b. bef. 1507, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir John Rogers by his 1st w. Elizabeth, da. of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham, Devon. m. 1523, Katherine, da. of Sir Richard Weston, 16s. (11 d.v.p.) inc. Richard and Thomas 4da. (2 d.v.p.). suc. fa. bet. June 1535 and Feb. 1536. Kntd. bet. July 1538 and Jan. 1540.

Offices Held

J.p. Dorset 1528, q. by 1562; sheriff, Som. and Dorset 1552-3; duchy of Lancaster steward, lands in Dorset from 1531.1

Biography

Rogers owned extensive estates in Dorset, at Blandford, Bryanston, Hemsworth, Nutford and elsewhere, together with the ‘house of the late Black Friars’ at Melcombe Regis, and several advowsons. He also leased mills and other property at Pimperne. He controlled parliamentary elections at Wareham, less than ten miles from land which he owned at Langton Matravers, and on two or three occasions may have used his influence to secure seats for nominees of the 2nd Earl of Bedford, with whom his family had a longstanding association. In 1559 Rogers brought in his collector for the hundred of Pimperne, Richard Shawe, at Melcombe Regis, as he had done in Mary’s last Parliament. By this time Rogers was in financial difficulties, exacerbated by a Chancery case brought against him by Dame Margaret Luttrell, whose daughter was married to his heir Richard. Before his death, which occurred on 2 July 1565 at the house of his god-daughter Lady Essex, he executed a conveyance granting the use of his chattels to Sir John Zouche and others. A further Chancery suit developed over this deed, the widow claiming that the creditors could not touch the property, the creditors that it was a device drawn up to defraud them. Rogers was buried at Blandford Forum, where a monument was erected in the parish church to him and his wife and children2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

This biography is based upon the Roberts thesis.

  • 1. Harl. 1539, ff. 78-9; Hutchins, Dorset, i. 214, 218, 225; London Mar. Lic. (Harl. Soc. xxv), 3; PCC 8 Alen; LP Hen. VIII, x. p. 158; xi. p. 85; xiii(1), g. 1519; xiv(2), p. 225; xv. p. 14; xxi(1), p. 486; Somerville, Duchy, i. 628-30; Ducatus Lanc. iii. 243.
  • 2. C142/144/158; CPR, 1560-3, p. 533; 1563-6, p. 335; PRO Lists and Indexes, vii. 334; Vis. Som. ed. Weaver, 43; Hutchins, i. 225; C33/33, f. 211v.