Sir George Thomas Rogers

ROGERS, George (c.1528-82), of Cannington, Som. (Disambiguated from Mash-Merge)

Family and Education b. c.1528, o.s. of Sir Edward Rogers by Mary, da. and coh. of Sir John Lisle of the Isle of Wight. m. by May 1551, Jane, da. and h. of Sir Thomas Winter of Clapton, 2s. inc. Edward 1da. suc. fa. 1568. Kntd. 1574.

Offices Held

Commr. piracy Dorset 1565; sheriff, Som. 1571-2; j.p. Dorset from c. 1561, Som. from c.1569, q. 1579.

Biography Rogers was second on the poll in the contested Somerset election of 1571. He left no trace on the known surviving records of the House. In addition to the family lands he had estates in Cornwall in right of his wife. In contrast to his father, he lived as a country gentleman and most of the references found to him are concerned with his local official duties. He died on 10 Sept. 1582. In his will, made the previous June, he trusted to be saved ‘only by the death and passion of Christ and not by any desert of mine own’. He made charitable legacies—£20 to the poor of the two parishes, Cannington and Pilton, where his largest estates lay, and £5 each to the parish churches there. His daughter Mary was to have £1,000 at her marriage, his younger son William lands in Dorset and Wiltshire and £100 on his 21st birthday, and the widow (the sole executrix) a life interest in the mansion house at Cannington, unless she remarried. Any property unbequeathed was to be equally divided between Lady Jane and the heir, the eldest son Edward, who married a daughter of John Popham, the attorney-general. Popham himself, Sir Amias Paulet, and Sir John Horner were the overseers.

Wards 7/11/73; E150/952/11; CPR, 1550-3, p. 44; 1566-9, p. 350; Vis. Som. (Harl. Soc. xi), 128; Som. RO, Phelips pprs.; LP Hen. VIII, xiii(1), p. 581; Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 620; APC, vii. 200, 283; x. 29; xi. 381, 399; xii. 34; Som. Rec. Soc. xx. 312, 315; C142/197/52; PCC 40 Tirwhite.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: N. M. Fuidge