John Pickersgill Rodger

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

Sir John Pickersgill Rodger KCMG
Governor of the Gold Coast
In office 3 March 1904 – 1 September 1910
Monarch	Edward VII George V
Preceded by	Herbert Bryan (Acting)
Succeeded by	Herbert Bryan (Acting)
7th British Resident of Perak
In office 13 December 1901 – 9 February 1904
Preceded by	Sir William Hood Treacher
Succeeded by	Sir Ernest Woodford Birch
British Resident of Selangor
In office July 1896 – 12 December 1901
Preceded by	Sir William Hood Treacher
Succeeded by	Henry Conway Belfield
1st British Resident of Pahang
In office October 1888 – January 1896
Preceded by	Post created
Succeeded by	Hugh Clifford
British Resident of Selangor
In office 8 February 1884 – 8 January 1888
Preceded by	Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham
Succeeded by	William Edward Maxwell
Personal details
Born	12 February 1851 Marylebone, London
Died	19 September 1910 (aged 59) Mayfair, London

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 First 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. Carlaw, D. "Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914" (PDF). Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. pp. 413–414. Retrieved 18 August 2020. Available online
2. Foster, J (1891). "Alumni oxonienses: the members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886". Alumni Oxonienses. Oxford: James Parker & Co. p. 1217. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Available online
3. Stapylton, HC (1884). "Eton school lists from 1791 to 1877". Eton: R Ingalton Drake. p. 325. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Available online
4. "Sir John Pickersgill Rodger KCMG, Obituaries in 1910". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. 1911. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
5. "Sir J. Pickersgill Rodger". The Times. 20 September 1910. p. 11. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Available online at The Times Digital Archive (subscription required)
6. "Appointments". The Times. 9 September 1903. p. 7. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Available online at The Times Digital Archive (subscription required)
7. "Railway Enterprise In The Gold Coast Colony". The Times. 17 February 1909. p. 21. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Available online at The Times Digital Archive (subscription required)
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 30 March 2019.
11. "John Rodger". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 March 2019. (subscription required)

External links

• WorldStatesmen - Malaysia
• Gold Coast Administrations
• Victoria Institution