Rogers Collection on East Africa

This collection of photographs relate to Roger's career on the East African mainland and in Zanzibar. Hardly any of the photographs are captioned, but there are some cuttings from the Zanzibar Gazette inserted and from these and from the Gazette itself it has been possible to identify a large number of the subjects with reasonable certainty. Some photographs are by A.C. Gomes and J.B. Coutinho; others are possibly by Rogers himself.

Alexander Stuart Rogers was born at Peshawar on 13 November 1862, son of Lt. Gen. Sir Robert Gordon Rogers, KCB (whose portrait is at Y30468A/47). After education at Wellington College he served with the Punjab Police from 1882-1890, arriving in Mombasa in July 1890 with a contingent of the police engaged for the service of the Imperial British East Africa Company. The following year he became administrator of the Protectorate of Witu, and when the British Government took over the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, became a sub-Commissioner and took part in numerous military expeditions in command of Sudanese troops. In 1901 he was appointed Regent of Zanzibar during the minority of Sultan Seyyid Ali Ben Hamud. When this post ended in October 1905 he returned to England and retired on pension. In 1907 he married Mary Spackman, who died in January 1971. He served in France in the First World War ending with the rank of Major and died in Carshalton on 15 July 1930. He had a reputation as an autocratic but able administrator.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Presented by Gordon A.H. Rogers in June 1971.

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection is available on microfiche: Africa, fiche numbers 79-91.

This collection level description was entered by KS using information from the original typescript catalogue.

DateText: Dates approximate, estimated with reference to Rogers' biographical details..

Rogers, Alexander Stuart, 1862-1930