James Edwin Thorold Rogers (23 March 1823 – 14 October 1890), known as Thorold Rogers, was an English economist, historian and
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
politician who sat in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
from 1880 to 1886. He deployed historical and statistical methods to analyse some of the key economic and social questions in
Victorian England
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
. As an advocate of free trade and social justice he distinguished himself from some others within the
English Historical School.
Background and formative years
Rogers 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
the son of George Vining Rogers and his wife Mary Ann Blyth, daughter of John Blyth. He was educated at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
and
Magdalen Hall, Oxford
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...
.
After taking a first-class degree in 1846, he received his
MA in 1849 from Magdalen and was ordained. A High Church man, he was curate of St. Paul's in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, and acted voluntarily as assistant curate at Headington from 1854 to 1858, until his views changed and he turned to politics. Rogers was instrumental in obtaining the
Clerical Disabilities Relief Act, of which he was the first beneficiary, becoming the first man legally to withdraw from his clerical vows in 1870.
For some time the classics were the chief field of his activity. He devoted himself to classical and philosophical tuition in Oxford with success, and his publications included an edition of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
's ''Ethics'' (in 1865).
Anecdotes
![James Edwin Thorold Rogers - Caricature](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/James_Edwin_Thorold_Rogers_-_Caricature.jpg)
The Victorian journalist
George W. E. Russell
George William Erskine Russell PC (3 February 1853 – 17 March 1919) was a British biographer, memoirist and Liberal politician.
Background and education
Russell was born in London, England, on 3 February 1853, the youngest son of Lord Cha ...
(1853–1919) relates an exchange between Rogers and
Benjamin Jowett
Benjamin Jowett (, modern variant ; 15 April 1817 – 1 October 1893) was an English tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian, an Anglican cleric, and a translator of Plato and Thucydides. He was Master of Bal ...
(''Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography'', 1914, 111–2) :
'Another of our Professors – J. E. Thorold Rogers – though perhaps scarcely a celebrity, was well known outside Oxford, partly because he was the first person to relinquish the clerical character under the Act of 1870, partly because of his really learned labours in history and economics, and partly because of his Rabelaisian humour. He was fond of writing sarcastic epigrams, and of reciting them to his friends, and this habit produced a characteristic retort from Jowett. Rogers had only an imperfect sympathy with the historians of the new school, and thus derided the mutual admiration of Green and Freeman —
"Where, ladling butter from a large tureen,
See blustering Freeman butter blundering Green."
To which Jowett replied, in his quavering treble, "That's a false antithesis, Rogers. It's quite possible to bluster and blunder, too!"'
Political economy
Simultaneously with these occupations he had been studying economics. He became the first Tooke Professor of Statistics and Economic Science at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
, from 1859 until his death. During this time he also held the
Drummond professorship of political economy at
All Souls College, Oxford
All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
between 1862 and 1867, when
Bonamy Price
Bonamy Price (22 May 18078 January 1888) was a British political economist.
Biography
Price was born at Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, where he lived until age 14, when he left Guernsey and entered the tutelage of Reverend Charles Bradley in High ...
was elected in his stead. In this he became a friend and follower of
Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty.
As a young ...
, an advocate for free trade, non-intervention in Europe and an end to imperial expansion, whom he met during his first tenure as Drummond professor. Rogers said of Cobden, "he knew that ... political economy ... was, or ought to be, eminently inductive, and that an economist without facts is like an engineer without materials or tools." Rogers had a wealth of facts at his disposal: his most influential works were the 6-volume ''History of Agriculture and Prices in England from 1259 to 1795'' and ''Six Centuries of Work and Wages''; he spent 20 years collecting facts for the latter work.
He served as
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
of the first day of the 1875
Co-operative Congress
The Co-operative Congress is the national conference of the UK Co-operative Movement. The first of the modern congresses took place in 1869 following a series of meetings called the "Owenite Congress" in the 1830s. Members of Co-operatives UK (p ...
.
He was elected
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
in 1880 and held the seat until it was divided under the
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...
. At the
1885 general election he was elected MP for
Bermondsey
Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...
and held the seat until 1886. Rogers also lectured in political economy at
Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...
in 1883 and was re-elected Drummond professor in 1888.
Works
* ''A History of Agriculture and Prices in England from 1259 to 1793'' (1866–1902), 7 vols
III(1866)
IIIIV(1882)
VVI(1887)
VII, Part IVII, Part II(1902)
* ''Speeches on questions of public policy by John Bright, M.P.'' Preface by James E. Thorold Rogers, editor. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co. (1868)
* Adam Smith, ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,'' 2 vols. (1869); revised edition (1880); on line a
Osmania University, Digital Library of India, Internet Archive. Preface by Thorold Rogers pp. v–xxx1xan
v. II (1869)* ''Historical Gleanings, A Series of Sketches (Montagu, Walpole, Adam Smith, Cobbett)'', London : Macmillan (1869)
* ''Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, M.P., Edited by John Bright and James E. Thorold Rogers,'' London, T. Fisher Unwin (1870). Preface by Thorold Rogers. v. 1 v. 2 ; third ed. (1908) on line a
''Cobden and Modern Political Opinion. Essays on certain political topics,'' London, Macmillan (1873) on line.
''A Complete Collection of the Protests of the Lords: With Historical Introductions,'' Vol. 1 1624–1741. Oxford, Clarendon Press; London, Macmillan & Co. (1875) On line.vol. 2. 1741–1825; vol. 3. 1826–1874.
*
''Public Addresses by John Bright, M.P., ed. James E. Thorold Rogers,'' Preface by Thorold Rogers, pp. v–xi. 2nd ed., revised. London, Macmillan (1879) On line. ''Six Centuries of Work and Wages: The History of English Labour''2 vols. London, Swan Sonnenschein (1884) – McMaster. On line.
''The First Nine Years of the Bank of England,'' London, Macmillan (1887) Internet Archive, on line.* ''The Relations of Economic Science to Social and Political Action.'' London: Swan Sonnenschein (1888).
* ''The Economic Interpretation of History'' London, G.P. Putnam's Sons (1888); T. Fisher Unwin (1909).
* ''Holland.'' London, T. Fisher Unwin (1888); New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons (1889)
''The Industrial and Commercial History of England: Lectures Delivered to the University of Oxford,'' ed. Arthur G. L. Rogers. New York, G. P. Putnam, 1892. Google Books, on line.
Family
Rogers married Ann Susannah Charlotte Reynolds, daughter of Henry Revell Reynolds, Treasury Solicitor, in December 1854.
[ They had a daughter, Annie Mary Anne Henley Rogers, who was an active supporter of the Liberal party, higher education for women and women's suffrage.][ Between December 1850 and January 1853 (her death), he had been married to Anna, only daughter of William Peskett, surgeon, of ]Petersfield
Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...
, Hampshire.[
]
Notes
References
* W. J. Ashley, "James E. Thorold Rogers" ''Political Science Quarterly'' (1889) pp. 381–407
in JSTOR
* Kadish, Alon. ''Historians, Economists, and Economic History'' (2012) pp 3–3
excerpt
*
*
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, James Edwin Thorold
1823 births
1890 deaths
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of Magdalen Hall, Oxford
Academics of King's College London
Fellows of King's College London
Economic historians
English economists
English historical school of economics
Politics of the London Borough of Southwark
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1880–1885
UK MPs 1885–1886
Presidents of Co-operative Congress
Drummond Professors of Political Economy
Burials at St Sepulchre's Cemetery