John George Rose (11 January 1876–20 February 1973) was a South African

analytical chemist Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...

, an army officer in various wars and a Grand Master of the Freemasons of South Africa. He also held world records for human-paced

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

Early life

Rose was born on 11 January 1876 in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa. He was the son of John Edwin Benjamin Rose (auditor-general of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

) and Emmerentia Johanna Steytler. He attended the

South African College School The South African College Schools (colloquially often known as “SACS”) is a public English medium primary and high education institution situated in Newlands - part of the Southern Suburbs region of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of ...

in Cape Town and passed matric at the

University of the Cape of Good Hope The University of the Cape of Good Hope, renamed the University of South Africa in 1916, was created when the Molteno government passed Act 16 of 1873 in the Cape of Good Hope Parliament. Modelled on the University of London, it offered examinati ...

in 1893.

Career as a chemist

At the end of 1896, he started to work as assistant analyst in the Government Analytical Laboratory, Cape Town. In 1912 the Government appoint him as a first-grade chemical assistant in the Government Analytical Laboratory. The

South African Railways and Harbours Administration The South African Railways and Harbours Administration (SAR&H) was established on 31 May 1910 with formation of the Union of South Africa by the amalgamation of the four colonial railways and all harbours in South Africa - about 11,000 kilometres of ...

appointed him as chief chemist in 1929. He stayed in that position until his retirement in 1935. He was an analytical chemist by profession. Rose was a member of various science and chemical organizations or associations, including the

South African Association for the Advancement of Science The Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science (S2A3 or S2A3) is a learned society, originally known as the South African Association for the Advancement of Science (SAAAS). Established in 1902, its principal aim is to increase th ...

(1903), the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

(1905), the

Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive of ...

(1910), the South African Association of Analytical Chemists (1921) and the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (1933). He was President of Cape Chemical Society in 1923, and President of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1943.

Publications

*Rose, J.G. (1910) "A new Cape thermal Chalybeate spring". ''

South African Journal of Science The ''South African Journal of Science'' is an open access, Multidisciplinarity, multidisciplinary academic journal published bimonthly by the Academy of Science of South Africa. The journal has a 2021 impact factor of 2.134. History The journal w ...

'', 7, 202-203. *Rose, J.G. (1911) "The Insizwa copper nickel deposits". ''South African Journal of Science'', 129-130. *Rose, J.G. (1929) "Alcohol mixtures as motor fuel in South Africa". ''South African Journal of Science'', 26, 29-38.

Sport

Rose was a keen sportsman. He twice held the world amateur human-paced

hour record The hour record is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Cyclists attempt this record alone on the track without other competitors present. It is considered one of the most prestigious re ...

for cycling in 1898 and 1899, riding 30 miles 606 yards in the hour at the Green Point cycle track. He was captain of the Alfred Rowing Club, winning five championships for six oars in

Table Bay Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named ...

Military

Rose had a long military career. He served in the South African College Cadet Corps for five years, later becoming the corps commander. In the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

between 1899 and 1902, he was a captain in the Cape Colonial Cycle Corps, and received the

Queen's South Africa Medal The Queen's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Altogether twenty-six clasps wer ...

. Rose then served as lieutenant in the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was assigned to the mechanical transport in the German South West Africa project, receiving the Star medal and

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. He obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel and later became the chief inspector of mechanical transport in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. He also received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) medal. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Rose was director of transportation of the Union Defence Force.

Freemasons

Succeeding Conrad Silberbauer, Rose was Grand Master of the Freemasons in South Africa from 1944 to 1957. Colonel C.G. Botha took over from him in 1957.

Death

Rose died, aged 97, on 20 February 1973 in Cape Town in a house called Beau Soleil (today the Beau Soleil Music Centre).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Jack 1973 deaths 1876 births South African Freemasons South African military personnel South African chemists Presidents of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science