DOUG ROGERS RIP

Doug and Sylvia
at an appropriate location in happier days
Click on any image for a larger version

My acquaintance with Doug dates from after the inauguration of restored Martello Tower No.7 in Killiney in 2008. Initially, I had no idea of the huge amount of research he, and his wife Sylvia, had put into unearthing vast quantities of documentation in the British National Archives at Kew and in many other archives. They also visited many relevant sites in Britain and were responsible for involving Paul Kerrigan and Martin Bibbings in the project. Without their work, there would have been no project.

 I had discovered Major Le Comte de La Chaussée and his survey of Killiney Bay which set the scene for the later building of the Martello Towers in that bay, but it was Doug who set me on the path filling out La Chaussée's role in British attempts to subvert post-revolutionary France and restore the French monarchy. And it was Doug who found La Chaussée's maps which I had been looking for for thirty years. 

And then there was the EU backed Europa Nostra heritage competition which Bill Clements suggested the Tower might enter. The questionnaire was comprehensive and demanding and required input in narrowly specified terms. It took Doug and me, acting as good cop bad cop, to beat Niall over the head to squeeze the information out of him in an acceptable form. The problem was that the way the restoration was done didn't quite fit the required format and Niall had to be "encouraged" to make some rough estimates. The fact that the Tower was shortlisted and got a special mention from the jury is in no small part due to Doug's insistence and cajoling.

  Most recently, despite being very ill Doug agreed to do a commentary for the online Bloomsday 2020 presentation (16 June) at the Tower on the saga of his and Sylvia's research. In the event he was too ill to present it himself and I read his script into the record. I was very pleased to have been able to honour his and Sylvia's research and it now stands as a tribute to Doug. You can access that particular item in the Bloomsday presentation below or just read the text.

Presentation of Doug and Sylvia's research in the 
Bloomsday 2020 event at the Tower

I was thrilled when Doug himself and Sylvia turned up at our Bloomsday Zoom session at midday. This turned into a great conversation though we only had less than a dozen people at it. I'm sort of half sorry I didn't record it, but it was intended as a free flowing conversation and that's what it turned out to be.

Myself & Doug - Xmas 2016
Royal Marine Hotel, Dún Laoghaire

I will always remember Doug as a gentleman, an Englishman with a wry sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye, a natural co-conspirator.

Doug on a lovely birthday few days
in Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons

You can read Sylvia's beautiful eulogy of Doug, delivered at his cremation on 1 September 2020, here. There's a lot in it about Doug that I didn't know and I'm very impressed. Clearly, as well as everything else, a very modest man.

You can see Doug's death notice and, if you wish, leave a message of condolence, here.

May he rest in peace.

The Magnificent Martello Tower
No.7 Killiney Bay