Rufus Rogers
QSO
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Hamilton East
In office
25 November 1972 – 30 October 1975
Succeeded byIan Shearer
Personal details
Born
Anthony Trevelyan Rogers

(1913-07-12)12 July 1913
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Died18 August 2009(2009-08-18) (aged 96)
Hamilton, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Pru Romilly
​
​
(m. 1945; died 1998)​
RelationsDenis Rogers (brother)
Children4

Anthony Trevelyan "Rufus" Rogers QSO (12 July 1913 – 18 August 2009) was a New Zealand medical doctor and a politician of the Labour Party.

Biography

Rogers was born in New Plymouth on 12 July 1913, the son of Eugene Trevelyan "Tim" Rogers and Gwendoline Rogers.[1][2] The doctor who delivered him spotted some rust-coloured hairs on his head and wanted to call him a "haematite", but his mother insisted that if anything, he was to be called Rufus. That name always stuck.[3] Rogers was educated at Whitiora School and Hamilton High School, as well as Nelson College from 1930 to 1931, and the University of Otago, where he completed MB ChB degrees in 1938.[1][3][4]

Rogers served with the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1939 to 1946. On 27 January 1945, he married Prudence Cecilia Romilly at St Mary's Church, Newick, Sussex, England, and the couple went on to have four children.[1][5] Returning to New Zealand, Rogers practised in Hamilton as a general practitioner from 1946.[1][3]

In 1956, a local campaign began to have a university in Hamilton. The barrister and solicitor Douglas Seymour chaired the lobby group for the first five years, and was succeeded in that role by Rogers. In 1964, their work was done and the University of Waikato was officially opened by the governor-general, Sir Bernard Fergusson.[3][6] Rogers' brother, Denis Rogers, was the university's first chancellor from 1964 to 1969.[7]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1972–1975 37th Hamilton East Labour

Rogers was asked by the Labour Party whether they could nominate him for the 1972 election in the new Hamilton East electorate. Not even a member of the party at the time, he thought he must have been mistaken for his brother, Denis Rogers, who had been mayor of Hamilton from 1959 to 1968.[3][8] Rufus Rogers represented the Hamilton East electorate for one parliamentary term from 1972 to 1975, when he was defeated by National's Ian Shearer.[8][9] According to Trevor Mallard, Rogers was "probably one of the last true socialists in Parliament".[2]

In the 1987 New Year Honours, Rogers was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.[10]

Rogers' wife, Pru, died in 1998.[2] Rufus Rogers died in Hamilton on 18 August 2009, and his ashes were buried in Hamilton East Cemetery.[2][3][11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Traue, J. E., ed. (1978). Who's Who in New Zealand (11th ed.). Wellington: Reed. p. 235. ISBN 0-589-01113-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Burke, Roy (29 August 2009). "'Rufus' revered in Hamilton-based dynasty of doctors". Waikato Times. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Akuhata, Karla (26 August 2009). "Hamilton 'founding father' farewelled". Waikato Times. p. 3. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Full school list of Nelson College, 1856–2005". Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006 (CD-ROM) (6th ed.). 2006.
  5. ↑ "Forthcoming marriages". The Times. No. 50047. 22 January 1945. p. 6.
  6. ↑ "The History of the University of Waikato". University of Waikato. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "Former Chancellors of the University of Waikato". University of Waikato. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  8. 1 2 The Rogers family of Hamilton Archived 14 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Kete Hamilton: Hamilton Heritage website. Retrieved 2 December 2012
  9. ↑ Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. pp. 231, 234. OCLC 154283103.
  10. ↑ "No. 50766". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1986. p. 34.
  11. ↑ "Cemetery search". Hamilton City Council. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
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