Jack Rose

John George Rose (1876-1973) was a South African analytical chemist, an officer in various wars and a Grand Master of the freemasons of South Africa.

Roots

Rose was born on 11 January 1876 in Cape Town, South Africa. He was the son of John Edwin Benjamin Rose (Auditor-general of the Cape Colony) and Emmerentia Johanna Steytler. He died in Cape Town in a house called Beau Soliel in 1973 at 97 years old. Today the house is the Beau Soliel Music Centre.. He attended the South African College School in Cape Town and passed matric at the University of the Cape of Good Hope 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 appointed him as Chief Chemist in 1929. He stayed in that position until his retirement in 1935. He was an analytical Chemist by trade.

Membership and contributions in the Chemical field

Rose was a member of various Science and Chemical Organizations or Association and published articles:

• 1903- Membership of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science
• 1905- Membership of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
• 1910- Membership Royal Society of South Africa.
• 1910- Published papers :
  • The Insizwa copper-nickel deposits
  • A new Cape thermal chalybeate spring
• 1921-Membership of the South African Association of Analytical Chemists.
• 1923- President of Cape Chemical Society.
• 1929- Published paper: - Alcohol mixtures as motor fuel in South Africa.
• 1933- Membership Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland.
• 1943- President of South African Association for the Advancement of Science.

Sport

• 1899- World record holder for one hour cycling. He did just under 48km in the hour.

Military

Jack Rose had a long military career , stretching over two World Wars:

• Served in the South African College Cadet Corps for five years, later becoming the Corps Commander.
• In the Anglo-Boer War between 1899-1902, he was a Captain in the Cape Colonial Cycle Corps. In this war he received the Queen’s medal.
• Rose then served as lieutenant in the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles
• In World War 1 he was assigned to the Mechanical Transport in the German South West Africa project. He received the Star medal and Croix de Guerre medal. He obtained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and later became the Chief Inspector of Mechanical Transport in East Africa. Then then also received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) medal.
• World War II broke out and Rose was Director of Transportation of the Union Defence Force.

Freemasons

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