Preparing biographies

‘Colonel M. W. Rogers, R.E., whose portrait forms a fitting frontispiece to our 9th volume, has been an ardent and successful photographer for many years. He belongs to the old wet-plate school, and, like Captain Abney and Colonel Waterhouse, believes that the good qualities of the old collodion plates have never been surpassed … As one of the vice presidents of the Photographic Society of India, Colonel Rogers has, for years back, been giving the committee the benefit of his matured experience, guiding its counsels in all matters connected with its success and progress. And now that the period of his retirement draws near, his place in the Society will be as hard to fill as the blank of his departure will cause in the Survey of India, in which department he has passed most of his service. Colonel Rogers joined the Royal Engineers in December 1861, arriving in this country in October 1865. Since then, he has passed through the various grades of the Survey Department, from Assistant Surveyor to Superintendent, first grade, and Assistant Surveyor-General. During the Afghan War he served as Survey Officer with the Southern Afghanistan Field Force in 1878-79 under Lieutenant-General D. Stewart, C.B., and there earned his Brevet-majority and war medal, being mentioned in despatches. Colonel Rogers and his popular wife leave India for good in February next [1897] and will carry with them the heartiest of kindly wishes from the very many friends they leave behind them.’^[1]

1. Λ Journal of the Photographic Society of India, vol. 10, no. 1, Calcutta, January 1897, pp. 217-218.