Made by George Rogers and Sons of London. No longer trading, but from reference 1 we learn that they were: 'Good quality English pianos, made mainly between 1890 and 1930, generally with warm tone. Rogers made baby grand pianos, mostly to about 5ft and mahogany in colour. In 1918 they merged with Hopkinson but appear to have retained their own characteristics. In 1963 they were acquired by Zender. Between then and about 1975 there were many reasonable small Rogers uprights made, many to be found in schools'.
While a nearby page says about Zender: 'Sidney Zender contracted different factories with instructions to make the smallest 85 note piano possible. Some 6 octave pianos were also made. Sidney Zender told me that there were over 70,000 Zender upright pianos made in the UK, mostly between the 60s to 80s. Most Zender pianos were reasonably made, but if you are looking to buy one, it’s recommended that you get a good tuner to assess it first. See our small upright pianos page for alternatives'.
From which we deduce that there must have been a lot of pianos about at one time. If we suppose 10 million houses in the UK and pianos in 1 in 10 of them, we get a million. On the other hand, in the East Sheen of BH's childhood, a piano seems to have been an essential piece furniture for any self-respecting household, so perhaps 1 in 10 is a bit on the low side. And there are probably about 20 million families in the UK now.
Perhaps this piano was a cast-off from a friend of the Botanic Gardens.
Reference 1: https://www.robertspianos.com/cdetails.php?ID=138&Make=Rogers,-George-Pianos.
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