John Rose Holden (27 September 1821 – February 25, 1879) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician and lawyer. He was mayor of Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 in 1851.

Born in Daventry, Northamptonshire, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, John Rose Holden was the son of a wealthy Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 clergyman. Little is known of his early life, but he is believed to have come to Canada at an early age. He was well educated in both English and French, and studied law with Judge Campbell at Niagara, Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

. After being called to the bar, he entered a partnership with R.O. Duggan in Hamilton, enjoying a lucrative practice. He was married to Mary Emily Roach and had two sons and three daughters.

Holden served on the city council for many years. He was elected mayor in 1851, the year in which a new system of elections was introduced; two aldermen, two councillors, one inspector of houses of public entertainment, and one school trustee were elected for each ward. As mayor, Holden represented Hamilton at the Boston Jubilee. A freemason, Holden became affiliated with Barton Lodge

Masonic Lodge

This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...

 on 27 November 1844. He was active, along with his wife, in the Wentworth Historical Society. He was also a member of St. Mark's Church (Anglican), donating its first communion vessels. The church contains a plaque to him and his wife.

He died in Hamilton, Ontario in 1879.