The Orderly Room Quartermaster Sergeant.

Edward VII Volunteer Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
1773 O.R. Q.M.Sjt G. T. Rogers, 12th Middlesex V.R.C.

Born in 1862, George Thomas Rogers was the second of three sons born to Matthew and Charlotte Rogers. The 1871 Census records the family as living at 4 Finborough Road, Chelsea, and lists George as a nine-year-old schoolboy and his father as a blacking manufacturer.

The 1881 Census finds the family in changed circumstances; Charlotte was now the head of the family and George was a 19-year old Civil Service clerk in the War Office. They were now living at 48 Redcliffe Road, Chelsea. It seems a safe assumption that soon afterwards, George joined the 12th Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps, whose members were recruited from employees in various branches of the Civil Service, including Whitehall, the War Office, the Admiralty, the Inland Revenue, the Bank of England and the Post Office to name just a few.

By the time of the 1901 Census, George Rogers was living at 34 Lilyville Road, Fulham. He was 39 years old and apparently still living with his mother. He must have had a successful career in the 12th Middlesex Volunteers as he had achieved the rank of Orderly Room Quartermaster Sergeant when, in September 1904, he was awarded the Volunteer Long Service and Good Conduct Medal pictured here. This Medal was instituted in 1894 and was awarded for 20 years of service. On the creation of the Territorial  Force in 1908, it was superseded by the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal.

In May 1905, George was appointed Staff Clerk at the War Office and in 1910, he married Emily Florence Minnie Cobbett. He was in his late 40s while she was a few years younger and had two young children. The 1911 Census confirms that the four of them were living at 34 Lilyville Road, Fulham, but by 1918, they had moved to a nearby residence at 24 Doneraile Street, Fulham. At some point later the family moved to 18 Bowrons Avenue, Wembley.

George Thomas Rogers died on 9th December 1936 at Redhill County Hospital, Edgware, Middlesex, leaving effects worth just over £2,000 to his widow.