Author: Rogers, Henry
Biography:
ROGERS, Henry (1806-77: ODNB)
The third son of Sarah (Haddon) and Thomas Rogers, a surgeon and member of the Congregationalist Sect, he was born at St Albans, Hertfordshire. He was educated at private schools and apprenticed to a surgeon in Milton-next-Sittingbourne, Kent, when he was seventeen. However, he was drawn to theology and he spent three years at Highbury College before entering the Congregationalist ministry in 1829 when he was appointed assistant pastor at Poole, Dorset. A few years later he returned to Highbury as a lecturer. In 1836 he was appointed to the chair in English Language and Literature at University College, London, and, in 1839, to the chair of English literature and language, mathematics, and mental philosophy in Spring Hill College, Birmingham. His domestic life was shadowed by tragedy. In 1830 he married Sarah Bentham but she died in 1834 following the birth of their third child. He then married her sister, Elizabeth, but she died in 1835 after giving birth. A third marriage, to Emma Watson in 1842, ended with her death during labour. A fourth wife, Jane Fletcher, whom he married in 1857, survived him. He was a prolific writer, contributing articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica and writing essays, a biography (The Life and Character of John Howe, first edition 1836), The Eclipse of Faith, or, A Visit to a Religious Sceptic (issued as by “F. B.” in 1852), and The Superhuman Origin of the Bible Inferred from Itself (1874). He also edited volumes of Howe’s writings and published some imaginary correspondence as Selections from the Correspondence of R. E. H. Greyson, Esq. (1857). In poor health, he moved to Pennal Tower, near Machynlleth, in 1873 and he died there. His grave is in Manchester. (ODNB 15 Sept. 2020; ancestry.co.uk 15 Sept. 2020)
Other Names:
- H. Rogers