THE church where Peter Mark Roget, of Thesaurus fame, is buried is to hold an event to later this month to mark the anniversary of his death.

St James’s Church in West Malvern is to hold a flower festival on Friday-Sunday, September 13-15, commemorating 150 years since Dr Roget’s death.

The church will be open each day between 9am and 8pm for visitors to admire the floral creation, which have the appropriate theme of Words.

On Friday evening at 8pm, a special quiz night is being held at West Malvern Social Club with a charity raffle in aid of the church.

On Saturday at 11am, the church itself will be the venue for a talk by local historian Colin Jackson entitled “The Good Doctor”.

On Sunday, the morning service, with Nicholas Menon and David Matthews, will continue the theme of the weekend.

And at 3pm, there will be Tea and Sympathy, a mix of poetry and music, also at the church.

Roget was buried in the churchyard at St James following his death in the village during a holiday there.

His name became synonymous with his famous Thesaurus, a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning.

Peter Mark Roget was born in London in 1779, but after his father’s death, the family moved to Edinburgh in 1793, and he began to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

His professional career included investigating disease at Millbank prison and writing a report on London’s water supply. In 1834 he became the first Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution and was one of the founders of the University of London.

Roget retired from professional life in 1840, and by 1846 was working on the thesaurus.

It was originally published in 1852.

After his death it was expanded by his son, John Lewis Roget, and later by John’s son, Samuel Romilly Roget.

Updated versions have been in print ever since.