Former colleagues have been kind enough to contribute the below messages in memory of Ken Roger’s life and career.

Ken Rogers, who died recently, aged 94, was a towering figure in the related fields of archives and history in Wiltshire. Born in Trowbridge, which became from an early age the main focus of his interest, Ken read history at the University of Bristol, and followed this with a diploma in Archive Administration at University College, London. in 1957 he was appointed assistant archivist in the Cornwall Record Office. however, in 1959, the opportunity to research the history of Wiltshire as an assistant editor of the Wiltshire County History project proved irresistible. He worked on the volume covering Salisbury (uncredited), and parishes in the hundreds of Warminster and Whorwellsdown. In 1964, he was appointed assistant county archivist of Wiltshire. He continued in the record office for the rest of his career, becoming county archivist in 1981. Ken was a very fine archivist, whose own interest in local history gave him a strong empathy with researchers which enabled him to interpret and present archives most effectively. On retirement in 1990 he became actively involved in the creation of Trowbridge Museum which was established in a former woollen mill. He also set up and organised a friends’ organisation to support the work of the museum.

 Work during school holidays in the cloth factory of E & J Clark fired an interest in the history of woollen cloth industry which lasted a lifetime. It led to his ground-breaking book Wiltshire and Somerset Woollen Mills, which focused on the industrial buildings, published in 1976. The following decade saw the appearance of Book of Trowbridge and Warp and Weft. Several monographs on his home town and its wooden industry followed during his long and productive retirement. His final book, Wiltshire and Somerset Weavers is due for imminent publication. Ken had a great ability to express himself clearly both in word and in print. He was blessed with a prodigious memory that remained strong to the end. He become the leading authority on a wide range of aspects relating to Wiltshire’s history. His pre-eminence over many years is evident in the distinction of being mentioned in the acknowledgments of the first edition of Pevsner’s Buildings of Wiltshire and its two revisions, spanning the years 1963-2021.

Ken was a modest, sociable and extremely popular man, with an infectious enthusiasm, who always happy to share his knowledge and encourage others in their work. He earned the respect and admiration of many colleagues and researchers, many of whom have expressed their sadness at his passing, and acknowledged the debt they owe him.

Steve Hobbs

I will always look back with great fondness on my time working at the Wiltshire Record Office under Ken Rogers as County Archivist. I arrived at the Record Office in April 1984, my first ‘proper job’ after university. Ken and the other staff made me feel welcome and set about moulding me into an archivist.
Within my first few months Ken asked me to go with him to the recently vacated GWR works in Swindon to collect documents: my first experience of ‘archives in the raw’ and one which I really enjoyed. Together we opened every cupboard, drawer and filing cabinet to see what we could find. A later outing with Ken was to solicitors Mann, Rodway and Green’s offices in Trowbridge where we rummaged through a filthy basement, finding bundles of deeds and clients’ files to load into the back of his car.

In the 1980s I remember staff Christmas parties at Silverthorne’s House, sherry and mince pies in the Conservation Room on Christmas Eve and a party at Penelope’s house in Maiden Bradley for Ken and Helen’s silver wedding anniversary in 1987. When Ken retired in September 1990, I took my two week old son to his retirement party: I placed him on Ken’s desk in his carrycot where he slept throughout.

Ken was always a champion of Trowbridge with an unparalleled knowledge of its history and past inhabitants. When I bought a house in Trowbridge he could immediately tell me when it was built and for whom. However, when I later moved to Bradford, Ken feigned disapproval with disparaging references to ‘Snuffy’, the nickname of the rival town.

Ken was a very modest and unassuming man, a kindly avuncular figure which belied his keen intellect and formidable memory. His memory never faded even when his eyesight failed, as proven by the speech he gave when he hosted a meeting of the Wiltshire Record Society at Parade House in 2023. To a crowded room of local history enthusiasts, entirely without notes, he described his early years in the Record Office and the meagre facilities with which he and his predecessor as County Archivist, Maurice Rathbone, offered a public research service. Looking back at Ken’s summary of his life and the changes he had seen over so many years, it now seems as though he was giving us all the information we need for his eulogy.

Jo Johnston (née Johnson)

My first encounter with Ken was in August 1970 when as a naïve and completely clueless assistant archivist I started work at the Wiltshire Record Office in Trowbridge. I soon realised that if I did not understand what I was supposed to be doing or could not read a particular document, which was very frequently, then Ken was the man to go to for an answer. He had a kind and tolerant disposition and always helped me in his unobtrusive way. He was not given to mindless chatter.

His knowledge of local history documentary sources, and how to make use of them, was quite mind numbing. This, together with his years of experience as a sub editor for the Wiltshire edition of The Victoria County History, made him a person to be reckoned with in the archival world.

Ken had a first class academic mind. This was readily apparent in his day to day work as an archivist and no more so than in his ability to create a useful catalogue. To my mind Ken was the best creator of finding aids I have ever come across. His ability to take a collection of records, break it down into components and then pick out the essential features is unmatched. His catalogues are works of art in terms of compression, accuracy and clarity. This is not easy to achieve as anyone who has tried to do so will know.

Andrew Crookston

Tributes were also paid to Ken in the Wiltshire Times: Tributes paid to ‘much-loved’ Trowbridge historian Ken Rogers | Wiltshire Times