George Rose
Encyclopedia
The Right Honourable George Rose (17 June 1744 – 13 January 1818) was a British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Born at Woodside near Brechin
Brechin
Brechin is a former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin is often described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Reformation Roman Catholic diocese , but that status has not been officially recognised in the modern era...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, Rose was the son of the Reverend David Rose of Lethnot, by Margaret, daughter of Donald Rose of Wester Clune. He was educated at Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

, afterwards entering the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, a service which he left in 1762 after he had been wounded in some fighting in the West Indies. He then obtained a position in the Civil Service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

, becoming joint Keeper of the Records
Keeper of the Records
Keeper of the Records can refer to:* Keeper of the Records of Scotland, the head of the National Archives of Scotland* Lyon Clerk and Keeper of the Records, a post within the Court of the Lord Lyon, responsible for maintaining the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland* Secretary and...

 in 1772 and secretary to the Board of Taxes in 1777. In 1782 he gave up the latter appointment to become one of the ecretary to the Treasury| under Prime MinisterLord Shelburne, though he did not enter Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...

.

He left office with his colleagues in April 1783, but in the following December he returned to his former position at the Treasury in Pitt
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...

's ministry, being henceforward one of this minister’s most steadfast supporters. He entered parliament as Member
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Launceston
Launceston (UK Parliament constituency)
Launceston, also known at some periods as Dunheved, was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and one member from 1832 until 1918...

 early in 1784, and his fidelity and friendship were rewarded by Pitt, who gave him a lucrative post in the court of exchequer
Court of Exchequer
Court of Exchequer may refer to:*Exchequer of Pleas, an ancient English court, that ceased to exist independently in the late nineteenth century...

; in 1788 he became Clerk of the Parliaments
Clerk of the Parliaments
The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The position has existed since at least 1315, and duties include preparing the minutes of Lords proceedings, advising on proper parliamentary procedure and pronouncing the Royal Assent...

. In 1801 Rose left office with Pitt, but returned with him to power in 1804, when he was made vice-president of the committee on trade
Vice-President of the Board of Trade
The office of Vice-President of the Board of Trade was a junior ministerial position in the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created in 1786 and abolished in 1867. From 1848 onwards the office was held concurrently with that of Paymaster-General...

 and joint Paymaster-General
Paymaster-General
HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom. The Paymaster General is in charge of the Office of HM Paymaster General , which held accounts at the Bank of England on behalf of Government departments and selected other public bodies...

.

He resigned these offices a few days after Pitt's death in 1806, but he served as vice-president of the committee on trade and Treasurer of the Navy
Treasurer of the Navy
The Treasurer of the Navy was an office in the British government between the mid-16th and early 19th century. The office-holder was responsible for the financial maintenance of the Royal Navy. The office was a political appointment, and frequently was held by up-and-coming young politicians who...

 under the Duke of Portland and Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...

 from 1807 to 1812. He was again Treasurer of the Navy under Lord Liverpool, and he was still MP for Christchurch
Christchurch (UK Parliament constituency)
Christchurch is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Centred on the town of Christchurch in Dorset, it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

, a seat which he had held since 1790, when he died at Cuffnells, in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. He and many of his family are buried at Christchurch Priory,

Rose was a close friend of Admiral Lord Nelson. He first met Nelson when the latter was a young Captain and had just returned from the West Indies. This friendship grew over the years. Nelson invited Rose to go on board HMS Victory before the ship sailed for the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson's purpose was to tell Rose that, if he was killed, he had left Lady Hamilton and their daughter Horatia to the Nation. Rose was thus the last man in England to see Nelson alive. After Nelson's death Rose became Emma Hamilton's executor and Horatia's guardian but Pitt's death diminished Rose's influence and his fellow Ministers did mot support her.

Rose was also a friend of King George III and his family who stayed with him a number of times at his house 'Cuffnells'in Lyndhurst on their way to summer holidays at Weymouth. Rose also owned a seaside house at Sandhills near Christchurch which is now a holiday camp.

Rose was an able and conscientious politician, although he and his two sons drew a large amount of money from sinecure
Sinecure
A sinecure means an office that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service...

s, a fact referred to by William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...

 in his "A New Year’s Gift to old George Rose." Rose wrote several books on economic subjects, and his Diaries and Correspondence, edited by the Rev. L. V. Harcourt, was published in 1860.

His elder son, Sir George Henry Rose
George Henry Rose
Sir George Henry Rose GCH PC was the eldest son of George Rose. He was Member of Parliament for Southampton from 1794–1813 and for Christchurch from 1818–32 and 1837–44, Clerk of the Parliaments from 1818–55 and sometime Envoy Extraordinary to Munich and Berlin, and to the...

 (1771–1855), was in parliament from 1794 to 1813, and again from 1818 to 1844, and in the meantime he was British minister at Munich, at Berlin, and at Washington. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order. In 1818 he succeeded his father as clerk of the parliaments. He was the father of Field Marshal[Baron Strathnairn] who was described as one of the bravest men in the British Army and the best commander in the Indian Mutiny. The second son was the poet illiam Stewart Rose] who was friendly with Sir Walter Scott..

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