Sir John Pickersgill Rodger
KCMG
Governor of the Gold Coast
In office
3 March 1904 – 1 September 1910
MonarchsEdward VII
George V
Preceded byHerbert Bryan (Acting)
Succeeded byHerbert Bryan (Acting)
7th British Resident of Perak
In office
13 December 1901 – 9 February 1904
Preceded bySir William Hood Treacher
Succeeded bySir Ernest Woodford Birch
British Resident of Selangor
In office
July 1896 – 12 December 1901
Preceded bySir William Hood Treacher
Succeeded byHenry Conway Belfield
First British Resident of Pahang
In office
October 1888 – January 1896
Preceded byPost created
Succeeded byHugh Clifford
British Resident of Selangor
In office
8 February 1884 – 8 January 1888
Preceded bySir Frank Athelstane Swettenham
Succeeded byWilliam Edward Maxwell
Personal details
Born(1851-02-12)12 February 1851
Marylebone, London
Died19 September 1910(1910-09-19) (aged 59)
Mayfair, London

Sir John Pickersgill Rodger, KCMG (12 February 1851 – 19 September 1910) was a British colonial administrator.

Early life

Rodger was born in 1851 at Marylebone in London, the second son of Sir Robert Rodger and his wife Sophia (née Pickersgill). His father was a landowner, magistrate and Justice of the Peace who purchased Hadlow Castle in Kent where the family lived, and was the High Sheriff of Kent in 1865. He was educated at Eton College, where he was in the cricket XI, and went up to Christ Church, Oxford in 1870.[1][2][3][4]

Career

Rodger was called to the English Bar at the Inner Temple in 1877 but practised little in Britain and joined the Colonial Service.[1][2] In 1882 he was appointed as the Chief Magistrate and Commissioner of Lands at Selangor and was the British resident of Pahang, Selangor and Perak, all in British Malaya, before being appointed as the Governor of the Gold Coast in 1904.[1][5][6] He was influential in the development of infrastructure whilst in post in West Africa, including the building of a harbour at Accra and of beginning the building of a railway to serve the cocoa industry around Kumasi.[5][7]

Rodger was appointed CMG in 1899[8] and knighted KCMG in 1904.[9]

Cricket

Rodger was a cricketer who played one first-class match for Kent County Cricket Club in 1870 after leaving Eton, playing against an MCC side during Canterbury Cricket Week. He scored a total of seven runs in the match.[1][10] Although he played some cricket at Oxford he did not make the University XI. He played club cricket for a variety of amateur sides, including MCC, Band of Brothers and the Gentlemen of Kent. His brother, William Rodger, also played for Kent.[1][11]

Family

Rodger married Maria Tyser in 1872; the couple had one daughter. He died in September 1910 in London shortly after retiring from the Colonial Service due to ill health. He was aged 59.[1][4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914 (revised edition), p. 470. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)
  2. ^ a b Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Rodger, John Pickersgill" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  3. ^ Stapylton HC (1884) Eton school lists, p.325. Eton: R Ingalton Drake. (Available online. Retrieved 2020-08-19.)
  4. ^ a b Sir John Pickersgill Rodger KCMG, Obituaries in 1910, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1911. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  5. ^ a b c Sir J. Pickersgill Rodger, The Times, 20 September 1910, p.11. (Available online at The Times Digital Archive (subscription required). Retrieved 2020-08-19.)
  6. ^ The Times, 9 September 1903, p.7. (Available online at The Times Digital Archive (subscription required). Retrieved 2020-08-19.)
  7. ^ Railway Enterprise In The Gold Coast Colony, The Times, 17 February 1909, p.21. (Available online at The Times Digital Archive (subscription required). Retrieved 2020-08-19.)
  8. ^ "No. 27086". The London Gazette. 3 June 1899. p. 3586.
  9. ^ "No. 27732". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 November 1904. p. 7255.
  10. ^ John Rodger, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  11. ^ John Rodger, CricketArchive (subscription required). Retrieved 2019-03-30.

External links

Political offices Preceded bySir Frank Athelstane Swettenham British Resident of Selangor 1884 – 1888 Succeeded byWilliam Edward Maxwell Preceded byPost created British Resident of Pahang 1888 – 1896 Succeeded byHugh Clifford Preceded bySir William Hood Treacher British Resident of Selangor 1896 – 1901 Succeeded byHenry Conway Belfield British Resident of Perak 1901 – 1904 Succeeded bySir Ernest Woodford Birch Government offices Preceded byHerbert Bryan Governor of the Gold Coast 1904 – 1910 Succeeded byHerbert Bryan
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