James Edwin Thorold Rogers(23 March 1823 – 14 October 1890), known asThorold Rogers,was an English economist, historian andLiberalpolitician who sat in theHouse of Commonsfrom 1880 to 1886. He deployed historical and statistical methods to analyse some of the key economic and social questions inVictorian England.As an advocate of free trade and social justice, he distinguished himself from some others within theEnglish Historical School.[1][2]

Thorold Rogers
Born23 March 1823
West Meon,Hampshire, England
Died14 October 1890(1890-10-14)(aged 67)
Oxford,England
NationalityEnglish
Academic career
FieldPolitical Economy
School or
tradition
English historical school
Alma materKing's College London
University of Oxford

Background and formative years

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Rogers was born atWest Meon,Hampshire,[3]the son of George Vining Rogers and his wife Mary Ann Blyth, daughter of John Blyth. He was educated atKing's College LondonandMagdalen Hall, Oxford.[4]After taking a first-class degree in 1846, he received hisMAin 1849 from Magdalen and was ordained. A High Church man, he was curate of St. Paul's inOxford,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 theClerical Disabilities Act 1870(33 & 34 Vict.c. 91), 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 ofAristotle'sEthics(in 1865).[5]

Anecdotes

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Rogers caricature byLeslie Wardfrom Vanity Fair

The Victorian journalistGeorge W. E. Russell(1853–1919) relates an exchange between Rogers andBenjamin Jowett(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

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Simultaneously with these occupations he had been studying economics. He became the first Tooke Professor of Statistics and Economic Science atKing's College London,serving in this role from 1859 until his death.[5]During this time he also held theDrummond professorshipof political economy atAll Souls College, Oxfordfrom 1862 until 1867, whenBonamy Pricewas elected in his stead.[6][7]In this he became a friend and follower ofRichard Cobden,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."[8]Rogers had a wealth of facts at his disposal: his most influential works were the 6-volumeHistory of Agriculture and Prices in England from 1259 to 1795andSix Centuries of Work and Wages;he spent 20 years collecting facts for the latter work.[9]

He served asPresidentof the first day of the 1875Co-operative Congress.[10]He was electedLiberalMember of Parliament (MP) forSouthwarkin 1880 and held the seat until it was divided under theRedistribution of Seats Act 1885.At the1885 general electionhe was elected MP forBermondseyand held the seat until 1886. Rogers also lectured in political economy atWorcester College, Oxfordin 1883 and was re-elected Drummond professor in 1888.[5]

Works

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Family

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Rogers married Ann Susannah Charlotte Reynolds, daughter of Henry Revell Reynolds, Treasury Solicitor, in December 1854.[4]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.[3]Between December 1850 and January 1853 (her death), he had been married to Anna, only daughter of William Peskett, surgeon, ofPetersfield,Hampshire.[3]

Notes

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  1. ^[1]Archived17 April 2009 at theWayback Machine
  2. ^Thorold Rogers,The Economic Interpretation of History: Lectures Delivered at Worcester College Hall, Oxford, 1887-8(1891).
  3. ^abc"Rogers, James Edwin Thorold".Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  4. ^ab"Debrett's House of Commons".Archive.org.1867.Retrieved13 January2016.
  5. ^abcOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Rogers, James Edwin Thorold".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 455–456.
  6. ^N. B. DeMarchi."On the Early Dangers of Being Too Political an Economist".Oxford Economic Papers.28:364–380.doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.oep.a041349.Retrieved13 January2016.
  7. ^Salim Rashid (July 1978). "The Price-Rogers Election; Politics or Religion?".Oxford Economic Papers.30(2): 310–312.doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.oep.a041416.JSTOR2662895.
  8. ^"Cobden, Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, Front Matter".{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url=(help)
  9. ^"Literary Gossip".The Week: A Canadian Journal of Politics, Literature, Science and Arts.1(15): 238. 13 March 1884.Retrieved29 April2013.
  10. ^"Congress Presidents 1869–2002"(PDF).Archive.co-op.ac.uk.February 2002. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 28 May 2008.Retrieved10 May2008.

References

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament forSouthwark
18801885
With:Arthur Cohen
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament forBermondsey
18851886
Succeeded by