Guy Hamilton Rogers

During the last 14 years of his life, Guy was Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Somerset.


Guy Rogers was born in Peterborough 17 February 1878. He graduated from Royal Military College in 1898 (#400) and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the First Bedfordshire Regiment and served with this Regiment in Punjab, India, until September 1900, when he transferred to the Indian Army on appointment to the XI Bengal Infantry. He served at the Mahsod Blockade in 1901 to 1902, Mauritius 1903 to 1906, and was attached to the 21st Punjabis for the Mohmand expedition. During the First World War, Rogers served as general staff in Mesopotamia and Persia, at Army Headquarters, India, and at the War Office. He was brigade major of the Bushire Force Mesopotamia 1916 and commanded an Indian XI Bengal Infantry regiment. A family story is told of how Rogers's unit encountered a large Arab force in the desert. His unit formed a line facing the Arab line and he went forward alone, met half way by a group of Arab princes—one of whom was very much pro-German. When he was close enough, the prince spat on Rogers's trouser leg, a horrible insult to British dignity. Rogers grabbed the prince's robe and used it to wipe the spittle from his uniform. Another prince, took charge of the situation and turned a potentially sanguinary episode into a bloodless British victory.

After the War, Rogers commanded the 57th Rajput Regiment in India and Iraq from 1922 to 1925 and was was appointed officer commanding Field Force Mosul and Iraq 1924 to 1925. Following this tour, he was appointed head of Indian Affairs at the War Office in London with the rank of colonel. At the end of this appointment, he was offered command of a brigade in India but he refused, preferring to remain in England. He retired from the Aarmy in 1929 after thirty years of service. During the Second World War, he joined the Ait Raid Precautions (ARP) and was appointed deputy chief warden. He commanded in the Home Guard in Bath, England from 1940 to 1944 for which service he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). During the last fourteen years of his life, Rogers was deputy lieutenant of the County of Somerset and was the Queen's representative in the area under the Marquis of Bath. Rogers died in Bath on July 3, 1954.

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