Sir John Rose, 1st Baronet (2 August 1820 – 24 August 1888) was a Scots-Quebecer politician. He was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

and the Executive Council of the Province of Canada. After

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

, he held the offices of

Solicitor General of Canada The Solicitor General of Canada () was a position in the Canada, Canadian The Ministry, ministry from 1892 to 2005. The position was based on the Solicitor General for England and Wales, Solicitor General in the Great Britain, British system and wa ...

Minister of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

and

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

in the new federal government. In the United Kingdom, he held the offices of Receiver General of the

Duchy of Cornwall A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign ...

and

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

. In 1872, he was created 1st Baronet Rose, of Montreal. His eldest son inherited the title and in 1909, his second son, Sir Charles Day Rose, was created 1st Baronet Rose of Hardwick House in his own right. His home from 1848, Rosemount, was in Montreal's

Golden Square Mile The Golden Square Mile (, ), also known as the Square Mile, is the nostalgic name given to an urban neighbourhood developed principally between 1850 and 1930 at the foot of Mount Royal, in the west-central section of downtown Montreal in Quebec, Ca ...

. From 1872, he lived in England at

Loseley Park Loseley Park is a large Tudor manor house with later additions and modifications south-west of Guildford, Surrey, England, in Artington close to the hamlet of Littleton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, th ...

Early life in Scotland

John Rose was born 2 August 1820, at Gask, near

Turriff Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is deriv ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

. He was the son of William Rose (b. 1792), of Gask, and Elizabeth (d. 1822), daughter of Capt. James Fyfe. John's father, William, was a great-grandson of Hugh Rose, 16th Baron of Kilravock and Chief of

Clan Rose Clan Rose () is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. History Origins of the clan The chiefs of the Clan Rose were a Normans, Norman family. They had no connection to the ancient Celts, Celtic family of Clan Ross. They derive from Ros, nea ...

. The estate of Gask had passed to John's father through his ancestor, Lt.-General Alexander Forbes (d. 1672), 10th

Lord Forbes Lord Forbes is the senior Lordship of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. The title was created sometime after 1436 for Alexander de Forbes, feudal baron of Forbes. The precise date of the creation is not known, but in a Precept dated July 1 ...

. John Rose was educated at Udny Academy and

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Aberdonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Univer ...

Career

In 1836, he immigrated to Huntingdon, Quebec, in what was then

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

, where he was active in suppressing the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

of 1837. He was admitted to the bar in 1842 and established a commercial practice in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. From 1857 until 1867, he was a member of the

, and he was a member of the Executive Council from 1858 until 1861. He was Lower Canada's

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

from 1857 to 1858 and from 1858 to 1859, and he also acted as various times as commissioner of

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

and Receiver General. In 1864, the British government appointed him to the commission to settle claims under the

Oregon Treaty The Oregon Treaty was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to ...

with the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Rose was elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

for the electoral district of

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

on 20 September 1867, and was later appointed

in the government of John A. Macdonald. He resigned from Parliament on 29 September 1869, to return to private life with the banking firm of Morton, Rose and Co. Rose was a delegate to the

London Conference of 1866 The London Conference was held in London, in the United Kingdom, in 1866. It was the third and final in a series of conferences that led to Canadian Confederation in 1867. Sixteen delegates from the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunsw ...

. In 1869, Rose moved to England to practise law and acted as an unofficial representative of the Canadian government. His was one of the first missions of a partly diplomatic nature which Canada ever sent abroad. He was sent partly because his was perceived as being "gentlemanly" enough for the world of London politics. He worked for Canada's interests in trade and immigration, and lobbied for Canada's viewpoint on matter of Anglo-American relations. In this function, he answered directly to the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, John A. Macdonald, since it was an informal position and was therefore not under the purview of the

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

, meaning that communications could be kept secret from the Imperial Government. As well, Canada did not have a foreign affairs department at the time. He also sat on a number of

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

s in Britain and became a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1872, and a member of the Imperial Privy Council in 1886. Following his passing in 1888, Sir John Rose was interred at Mount Cemetery in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, near the

estate, which he had rented for some years.

Family

He was succeeded by his elder son Sir William Rose, 2nd Baronet. His daughter Mary Rose married Major-General Sir Stanley de Astel Calvert Clarke, K.C.V.O., C.M.G. His Clarke granddaughters, Mrs. Edith Mary Bibby and Mrs. Baird, were two of the noted beauties of the day, and their portraits by Fildes, R.A. (former) and by Shannon (latter) were exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, 1896. They were the daughters of Mrs. Edith Mary Bibby married Frank Bibby, of Sansaw, near

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

, England, 1890, and the couple had two sons and two daughters.

Arms

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, John 1820 births 1888 deaths Nobility from Aberdeenshire Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Canada–United Kingdom relations Canadian baronets Canadian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers of finance of Canada Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Canadian Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Montreal Annexation Manifesto signers Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Lawyers in Quebec 101 Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Immigrants to Lower Canada

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Burials at Mount Cemetery 19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada