William Rose – Moray Estates and Heldon Wood (Monaughty Forest) and his forestry family
The image and the details are courtesy of Michael Lawrence, Bankfoot, who is a great grandson of William Rose. William Rose (1869-1956), the son of James Rose a gardener at Darnaway Castle, apparently worked initially on the Earl of Moray Estates, probably Darnaway Forest.
The family shown here back row, left to right:
Sandy, Charlie, Willie, and Hugh
Front row, left to right:
Cath, Wattie (who was very badly wounded in the Second World War and lived from 1946 in a house for the war disabled at Alves), William Rose and Ina (who married Chalmers Thain and was the mother of Chalmers Jnr and Andrew - father and two sons worked at FC Ledmore nursery).
Photographs indicate that William moved to the Forestry Commission when they bought land from Duke of Fife’s Estate and began planting in Heldon Wood, near Pluscarden Abbey. An image dated 1927, showing him as number 20 sitting in a forestry group next to forester J D Robbie, appears on this website as Record No 1069. (Also located in the PDF attached to this Picture) His sitting location may indicate that he is a ganger or foreman. J D Robbie was appointed forester in charge of Monaughty Forest (including Heldon) in 1925. It is likely that William may have been recruited by John McEwen, of ‘Who Owns Scotland’ fame, who was forester at Monaughty Forest (Heldon) from 1920 - 1925. Interestingly a W Rose is recorded in Monaughty Forest History 1920-1951 as a Foreman from 1940-45. Willie would have been 71 at the start but apparently a fit man and well able to look after the forest with its depleted squad over the war period. He was preceded by and after the war followed by forester D M Watt who may have been called up or sent on Timber Control duties.
William had seven sons and in the website Picture Record No 1069 are listed two of his sons Alex (Sandy) and Hugh. Hugh is No 1 and Sandy can be identified as No 9. Mike Lawrence states that apart from Sandy only Charlie and Willie Rose followed forestry careers. Hugh Rose joined the army as a regular in the Seaforths and then worked for one of the malt whisky firms in Elgin.
The details of Charlie’s life (b. 1901) are not well recorded by the family but there is a suspicion that he may have moved down to the Perthshire area prior to 1935 the year when he married Margaret Campbell of Doune. He died in 1962 with his home address given as Balfron, Stirlingshire and occupation as forester.
William (Willie) Rose junior turns up in Strathyre Forest and there are several images of him in worker and forester groups on the website. He was a Foreman at Strathyre Forest under Head Forester Alastair Cameron and would have retired in the mid 1960s. As an aside, Willie Rose and his wife Tess were married for well over 60 years and died within hours of each other on the same day without knowing that the other had passed. They were buried together following a joint funeral service. The photographs and details indicate that a younger man, William Rose, also worked with the forestry squad at Strathyre at least for some time. He may have been Charlie and Margaret’s son.
The other son, Sandy Rose, on leaving school in 1919 worked on Earl of Moray’s Estates in Darnaway Forest but left and joined the Forestry Commission in 1923 working in Heldon Wood (Monaughty Forest) under forester John McEwen. More details on Sandy Rose are recorded in many entries on this website with reference to Ledmore Nursery.
Another of William Rose’s family, his daughter Ina, also had forestry connections. Ina married Chalmers Thain who worked (with his two sons) in Ledmore Nursery from its early days until his retirement in the mid 1960s. They lived at Forestry Place in Bankfoot and on retiring moved out to South Australia with their two boys Andrew and Chalmers to join daughter Mary. However the parents returned a few years later to Perthshire.
See the PDF below for a large image of the Heldon Wood
Download Large Version (726kB)
Groups: Groups of people, Northeast Scotland