My father has spent many years researching the Rose family line. His incentive has
been twofold -
Kilravock, situated in Croy close to Inverness and Lochness, has been the family seat of the Rose clan since around 1280ad and was placed in a Christian Trust in 1982 by Elizabeth Rose (the 25th Baroness) so that the Christian tradition of the Rose family, perpetuated in the clan motto, ‘Constant & True’ may continue for the future.
Unfortunately it has not been possible to prove a direct link with Kilravock Castle, but the likelihood is that my family line is connected.
In 1390 the Rose family records and charters were destroyed when Elgin Cathedral, where they were kept, was burned to the ground by the notorious Wolf of Badenoch. All documents relating to the family's history were lost. However, from this time onwards, the records of the Roses are amongst the most complete in Scottish family history.
The Roses of Kilravock were diplomatic in their relations with neighbours and they lived peacefully compared to other clans. The Barons of Kilravock intermarried with the first families of the North and in 1460 the present Kilravock Castle was built on the banks of the River Nairn. The Rose family is one of the few in Scotland where the chiefship descended in an unbroken line.
Charles Rose (1st)
The earliest relative my father has been able to ascertain, who he has named Charles (1st) dates back to the 17th Century. My Gt, Gt, Gt, Gt, Gt, Gt, Grandfather! Charles was a tenant farmer in the early 1700s at Delliefure near Cromdale, not far from Grantown on the Spey river.
James Rose (1st)
Charles bore a son, James, who also became a farmer of note, renting land at Knock
of Auchnahannet, only a few miles from Delliefure. There are various dwellings and
out-
Nearby is the parish church in which the graveyard is packed full of members of both the Rose and Grant families. Here we found James Rose’s memorial stone. James bore six children, the oldest being Charles (2nd) who lived at a town called Muckrach. Moving across James’s offspring we come to James Junior (who my father has labelled James 2nd) who also farmed land at Balnaan close by in the early 1800s. James’s wife was Mary Grant.
William Rose (1st)
However it is another son of James 1st that we are interested in. It is William 1st born in 1744 who forms the next important link, and to search his fortunes we move from Grantown across south eastwards to Aberdeen where William was to farm land which was then known as Netherton of Hazelhead. By his industrious habits and obliging disposition he attracted the attention of Donaldson Simpson, the laird of Hazelhead who offered him Netherton on lease in about 1770. Later it became known as Home Farm which was part of the Hazelhead Estate.
Auchnahannet
The dwellings owned
by James Rose
(Left)
Hazelhead House which stood on the 650 acre Hazelhead Estate
Alistair Rose (Grandpa)
Alistair, known to his grandchildren as Grandpa, trained as a Doctor at Edinborough University and married my Grandmother, Jean Findlay. My father was their first born in Glasgow, and his brother Peter was born three & a half years later in Guernsey. At this time they lived in a house aptly named Kilravock. This house had been originally paid for from an inherited share of the proceeds from the sale of the Hazelhead Estate.
James Rose (2nd)
Donaldson’s son James (one of the brothers who took over the shipping line) is the next line in our family tree. He was to have five children, one of them also being called James – my GG Grandfather.
It was his brother William who became the last of the ship owners and who later, after the shipping line ceased, bought the Atholl Hotel in St. Andrews – the home of golf.
James (who also helped run the shipping line for a period) became a church minister, married Winifred Croxford and eventually became minister of the Church of Scotland in Guernsey where he died during the German occupation in 1940. James’s wife was a keen evangelist. They had seven children including Alistair, (who is my Grandfather) my uncles George, Brian, Jimmy, and Kenneth (who as a young man took his own life in 1933), Nesta and her twin sister Esme. Brian, serving in the Fleet Air Arm, died tragically in an air accident in 1944, after being awarded the DSO for his part in the famous ‘Channel Dash’ action, when a squadron of 6 old Swordfish aircraft attacked 3 German battleships. Out of 18 crew members, Brian was one of only 5 to survive.
Donaldson Rose (1st)
William named his 1st son Donaldson (in honour of his current landlord and laird, Donaldson Simpson. Born at Netherton on the Hazelhead Estate, exactly 70 years later, Donaldson Rose bought the entire estate on which he had been born – an impressive 650 acres – and thus became the laird himself. It is assumed that Donaldson must have built the mansion house.
There is a memorial well stone in tribute to William Rose which bears an inscription referring to psalm 114 and describing him as : Pious, honest and upright.
Donaldson began his working life as a cooper, a maker of barrels. Due to an excess of wood, Donaldson built a coaster or two and went on to forge a large shipping line. It was the success of this business that eventually enabled Donaldson to aquired the entire estate.
Mary Grace, Donaldson’s granddaughter, wrote in her memoirs about her fondness for Hazelhead which as a child she frequently visited.
Donaldson also bought a second dwelling in the centre of Aberdeen, a highly prestigious town house in Golden Square.
At the east end of Aberdeen are the docks where Donaldson Rose’s shipping fleet set
sail. According to the diary of Mary Grace Forgan, he made his fortune, lost it,
and made it again. How or when this happened is not recorded. However, The Donaldson
Rose shipping company involved some 28 ships between around 1816-
On his death in 1853, the company was handed on to his son’s William, James and Charles. (James being my GGG Grandfather). The advent of paddle steamers, which took over from sailing vessels marked the decline and eventual demise of the empire that Donaldson Rose had created. Hazelhead Park was sold to Aberdeen City Council in 1920 as a public park & which it is still today. The shipping line ended with the commissioning of the last two clippers ever to be built, one of which was wrecked off the Lizard in 1913 and the other was sold for scrap in 1925.
Click to enlarge
William Rose’s
Memorial Well
Leading off Aberdeen central high street is Rose Street. We don’t know what connection this street has to the family, but it’s nice to know we have a street in a major city with our name on it.
(Left)
Click to enlarge each photo of Kilravock Castle
(Left)
Click to enlarge map & arial photo of the 650 acre Hazelhead Estate
St. Nicolas church in the centre of Aberdeen has Donaldson Rose’s tombstone. The inscription reads ‘Sacred to the memory of Donaldson Rose of Haselhead, merchant & ship owner in Aberdeen who died 1st of April 1853 aged 73 years, and of Elspet Simpson, daughter of the late Mr John Simpson, of Knockhall Foverham, his first spouce who died 1828 aged 46 years. The text also refers to Sarah Frazer, daughter of the late Rev. William Frazer, Donaldson’s second wife.
My grandfather became slightly infamous for having created a hidden transister radio disguised within the workings of a clock during the German’s occupation of Guernsey in the 2nd world war. There are newspaper articles regarding this and he was interviewed by the BBC. Click the icon to the far right to hear the recording of the interview with photo’s.
James Rose
Atholl Hotel
Kilravock -
Rose Hunting Tartan
The Mount Stewart
Cromdale
My song -
