The King's connection
The Rogers Lectern in King's College Chapel
Plaque on the lecternKing's has a close connection with Dr Joseph Rogers, a key figure in the history both of the Cleveland Street Workhouse, and of workhouse medicine more generally. Rogers was the medical equivalent of Florence Nightingale for workhouse infirmaries. His brother Thorold Rogers was Professor of Economics at King's College in the late 19th century, and a Member of Parliament.
Significantly associated with both Thorold and Joseph Rogers is a lectern which does daily service in King's College Chapel (Strand Campus). It was carved from a tree that grew in the garden of their parental home in West Meon, Hants, and carries inscriptions commemorating both men and their father, George Vining Rogers, who had been a local medical man and man-midwife for many years. The lane leading to their old family home there is still called Doctor's Lane.
In this exhibition
- Victorian tight-fistedness versus kindness
- The Italian Boy and the unclaimed poor
- Strand parishes, Dickens and the Poor Law
- Joseph Rogers MD - parish doctor
- The King's connection
- Strand Union Workhouse
- Louisa Twining
- Dickens, Rogers and Miss Nightingale
- The Poor Law in 'All the Year Round'
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements