Divine, educational reformer. Student at Eton. B.A. Oxford, 1842; M.A. 1844. Curate of St. Thomas's, Charterhouse, 1845-1863; thereafter rector of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate. Worked for the improvement of the social condition of his parishioners; established numerous schools for the poor and the middle class. Published reports of the schools; also sermons.

On February 2 1856, appeared in H.W. the article "Houseless and Hungry", describing a London refuge for the destitute. "As a pendant to that description", stated the prefatory editorial comment in "A London Parish", April 5, "we now present our readers with a brief notice of the parish in which [the refuge] stands:—St. Thomas Charterhouse. We are indebted for it to the Reverend William Rogers, its incumbent". The body of "A London Parish" consists of three paragraphs reprinted (without acknowledgment of the published source) from Rogers's Educational Prospects of St. Thomas Charterhouse, 1854.

Rogers was, thus, not a contributor to H.W. in the sense of writing for the periodical. The editorial comment implies that he called his account of the parish to the attention of the editorial office and perhaps furnished the office a copy of his Educational Prospects. The Office Book assigns the item to Wills; it records no payment.

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography