Joseph Rogers (1821–1889) was an English physician and campaigning medical officer.

Life

The elder brother of

Thorold Rogers James Edwin Thorold Rogers (23 March 1823 – 14 October 1890), known as Thorold Rogers, was an English economist, historian and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1886. He deployed historical and statistical metho ...

, he was born at

West Meon West Meon is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, with a population of 749 people at the 2011 census. Geography It is north-west of East Meon, on the headwaters of the River Meon. Its closest town is Petersfield which is to the e ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. For 40 years Rogers promoted reform in the administration of the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

. Beginning a medical practice in London in 1844, he became supernumerary medical officer at

St Anne's, Soho Saint Anne's Church serves in the Church of England the Soho section of London. It was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop Henry Compton as the parish church of the new civil and ecclesiastical parish of St Anne, created from part of the pari ...

, in 1855, on the occasion of an outbreak of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

. The following year he was appointed medical officer to the

Strand workhouse The Cleveland Street Workhouse is a Georgian property in Cleveland Street, Marylebone, built between 1775 and 1778 for the care of the sick and poor of the parish of St Paul Covent Garden under the Old Poor Law. From 1836, it became the workho ...

. The conditions in the Strand workhouse had been found very bad by the future reformer

Louisa Twining Louisa may refer to: Places ;Australia * Louisa Island (Tasmania) ;Canada * Louisa or Lac-Louisa, a community in Wentworth, Quebec ;Malaysia * Louisa Reef, Sabah ;United States * Louisa, Kentucky * Louisa, Missouri * Louisa, Virginia * Louisa ...

, when she visited in 1853. Rogers had the workhouse master George Catch removed, on the grounds that Catch had delayed calling a doctor for a woman in pain giving birth, to save money. In 1861 Rogers came before the select committee of the House of Commons, speaking on the supply of drugs in workhouse infirmaries, and his views were adopted. Much of the evidence on which Gathorne Hardy relied in pushing for the

Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 The Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, the first in a series of major reforms that led to the gradual separation of the Poor Law's medical functions from its poor relief functions. It also led to the creati ...

came from Rogers. In 1868 zeal for reform brought him, however, into conflict with the guardians, and the president of the poor-law board, after an inquiry, removed him from office. In 1872 he became medical officer of the

Westminster Infirmary Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckin ...

. Here also the guardians resented his efforts at reform and suspended him, but he was reinstated by the president of the poor-law board, and admirers presented him with a testimonial. Rogers was appointed in 1872 to the Westminster workhouse, where his predecessor French told him he had dispensed only a placebo for 40 years, keeping the entire drugs budget. He was the founder and for some time president of the

Poor Law Medical Officers Association The Poor Law Medical Officers Association was formed in 1868 by a merger of the Poor Law Medical Reform Association and the Association of Metropolitan Workhouse Medical Officers. Joseph Rogers was the founder and for some time president. See ...

. He helped to establish the

Association for the Improvement of the Infirmaries of London Workhouses The Association for the Improvement of the Infirmaries of London Workhouses was established on 3 March 1866 at a public meeting organised by Joseph Rogers, and Drs. Hart, Anstie and Carr of the Lancet. It was chaired by Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of ...

The system of poor-law dispensaries and separate sick wards, with proper staffs of medical attendants and nurses, was due to the efforts of Rogers and his colleagues. He died in April 1889. His ''Reminiscences'' were edited by his brother Thorold.

Notes

External links

* Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, James Edwin Thorold 1821 births 1889 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors People from the City of Winchester