Major Launcelot St. Vincent Rose, R.E.

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MinstRE
(January 2024)

Figure 1. Captain Launcelot St. Vincent Rose, R.E., circa 1904.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

The Great War of 1914-1918 took its toll on families. Many parents lost sons. The Rose family had two sons serving in the original British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) who were among the first to go to France in 1914. Launcelot St. Vincent Rose was killed in action on 22 October 1914 and his brother, Ronald Hugh Walrond Rose, who was serving in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), was killed in action on 28 November 1914. One can imagine the terrible grief suffered by their parents, losing both sons only 37 days apart. Their father had been in failing health for some time prior to their death. The news of his sons’ deaths appears to have had a great effect on his health and he died in January 1915.

2. FAMILY INFORMATION AND EARLY LIFE

Launcelot St. Vincent Rose was born on 4 August 1875 in Kensington, London. He was the son of Frederick William Rose (1849-1915) and Catherine Ross Rose, née Gilchrist (1850-1932). In addition to Launcelot and Ronald, Frederick and Catharine had two other children: Frederick Hamilton Rose (1872-1947) and Muriel Hope Rose (1872-1940). While Launcelot’s father did not serve in the military, his paternal grandfather, Hugh Monro St. Vincent Rose (1800-1867), had served in the 12^th Lancers.[1]

Launcelot was educated at St. Paul’s School where he excelled as a member of the rowing four for two years and was for some time the Captain of the four. Following his education at St. Paul’s he entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he was in the gymnasium eight. He represented Woolwich in their running team and won many prizes. His best record was the half mile in 2 minutes, 6 seconds on a grass track. Upon leaving the Royal Military Academy he was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers.[2]

Launcelot St. Vincent Rose was gazetted a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 15 March 1895. Immediately following his commissioning he was posted to the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.) at Chatham, Kent for further training as an engineer officer.

2^nd Lieutenant Rose’s training at the S.M.E. would have consisted of the study of field fortifications, construction, surveying, telegraphy, electric lighting, submarine mining, photography, chemistry, military law and tactics. During his time at Chatham he represented the R.E. officers at Rugby and rowed for two seasons, giving many fine exhibitions in the R.E. four.

Rose remained at Chatham until 1897 when he was posted to Gibraltar. In 1898 there were four Fortress Companies stationed at Gibraltar: the 6^th, 15^th, 20^th and 32^nd Companies.[3] It is very likely that Rose was serving in one of these companies. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 March 1898[4] and he remained at Gibraltar until 1903. When he left Gibraltar in 1903 there were still four Fortress Companies stationed there: the 1^st, 15^th, 22^nd and 45^th Companies.[5] As the 15^th (Fortress) Company was the only company that remained at Gibraltar during Rose’s entire time there, it is possible that he had served in that company.

While in Gibraltar he gained a name for himself as a polo player and played on the Garrison’s team. He ran ponies in several races, winning among others the well-known Steeplechase for the Subalterns Cup, riding his pony himself in that race. He also won many prizes in the Gymkhana Races, and in one he cracked his skull and was unconscious for a fortnight. He also started a boxing club for the non-commissioned officers and sappers, which was flourishing when he left Chatham. That he was an athlete there can be no doubt. He participated in rowing, gymnastics, running, polo, horse racing and boxing. It is a wonder that he had time for his military duties.

Rose spent about three years at Chatham serving in either the Depot Battalion or the Training Battalion of the Royal Engineers. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1 April 1904[6] and was posted to Ireland in 1906.

Captain Rose was posted to the Ordnance Survey (OS) in 1906.[7] He was stationed at the Ordnance Survey House on College Road in Ennis, a town between Limerick and Galway, which was the local headquarters in County Clare for Ordnance Survey and the center of operations for the survey and mapping of Clare, Limerick, part of Galway, and of Kerry, in the earlier stages of the work, and later Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon. The entire survey was under the direction of Colonel Thomas Colby who realised the need, not just to produce a series of accurate and realistic maps, but also to complement it with a separate topographical inventory of all places of interest in each county, as well as aspects of architecture and archaeology.

Figure 2. Ordnance Survey House, Ennis, Ireland.
(Image courtesy of Authentic Irish Experience, Historical Tours, Ireland)

The Ordnance Survey was originally established in Britain in 1791, and in 1824 the Survey established its Irish headquarters in Dublin, in order to undertake the mapping and measurement of Irish townlands. The maps were drawn on a scale of 6 inches to one mile and published between 1833 and 1846. They were later revised on a county-by-county basis.

The Ordnance Survey took its name from the Board of Ordnance and the field surveys were carried out by men of the Royal Engineers who were based in various barracks around the country. The officers and men of the OS had to determine the exact boundaries of over 60,000 townlands and to record the local spelling of each one of them.

On 18 December 1909, while he was serving with the Ordnance Survey, Captain Rose married Agneta Wendela Elizabeth van Citters, the daughter of Jonkeer[8] Dr. Wilhem van Citters of Zeeland Holland, the Consul-General for the Netherlands in Berne.

In May 1910 Captain Rose was serving in the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Peninsula District under the Commander Royal Engineers (C.R.E.), Lieutenant Colonel E.A.T. Tudor, R.E.[9] Rose was the District Officer for Lands and Fortifications. He had been posted to South Africa in March 1910, but it appears that he was on leave for two months and had not yet reported in for duty at Cape Town.[10]

Rose served under Lieutenant Colonel Tudor for about two years and was then assigned to the 55^th Field Company in the Transvaal, Pretoria District. The C.R.E. there was Lieutenant Colonel E.H. Bland, R.E. From October 1912 to January 1913 Captain Rose was again on leave.[11]

Captain Rose and his company returned to England from South Africa on 19 September 1914 and joined the 7^th Division which was mobilizing at Lyndhurst Camp in Hampshire. On its return to the U.K. the 55^th Field Company consisted of only 4 officers and 150 men. Rose was one of the 4 Regular Army officers with the company. In preparation for its deployment to France, the company strength was brought up, using Reservist, to 6 officers and 212 men. As a Captain, Rose would have been the Second-in-Command of the company.[12]

On 4 October 1914 Captain Rose and his company moved to Southampton in preparation for embarkation for movement to France and sailed on the following day.

The 55^th Field Company disembarked at Zeebrugge on 7 October and moved to Ostend the following day. On 9 October the company entrained for a move to Ghent and spent 10 and 11 April near that city. On 12 October the company began a move towards Ypres, arriving at Thielt on that same day and then at Roeselare the following day. The company took up a defensive position east of Ypres where it remained for 14 and 15 October and then moved to Zonnebeke where it stayed for two days and then went into a defensive position on a line from east of Zonnebeke and Gheluvelt on 18 October. On the following day the Battle of Ypres began and on 21 October the 55^th Field Company was engaged at Langemarck where it burned down a number of houses close to the 7^th Division’s trenches near Zonnebeke that were sheltering snipers. In addition, the company was employed as infantry in support of the Grenadier Guards at Kruiseik.

Figure 3. Map of the 7^th Division’s Position Near Kruiseik.
(Image from Atkinson)

On 22 October 1914 Captain Rose’s brother, Captain Ronald Hugh Walrond Rose, was killed in action while serving with the 1^st Battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Ronald Rose had been in France since August 1914 and had taken part in the Retreat from Mons and the Battles of the Marne and the Aisne. He had been wounded in the ankle during the German advance on Calais when he was in command of a covering party , but he went on leading his men until he was killed at Fromelles on 22 October 1914. For his actions at Fromelles, Captain Rose was later mentioned in the despatches of Field Marshal Sir John French on 14 January 1915. [13]

Figure 4. Captain Ronald Hugh Walrond Rose, Scottish Rifles.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

On 23 October No. 2 Section of the 55^th Field Company was attached to the 1^st Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment. This section would suffer the company’s first fatal casualty. 19959 Sapper E.G. Vanstone was killed in action on this day.[14]

The action at Langemarck ended on 24 October and the following day the company took part in defending against a German counter-attack. It was one of those days when the men were in the firing line and often had to lay down their tools and pick up rifles to repulse enemy attacks. From 27 to 28 October the company was in a defensive position near Kruiseik where it fought in line to hold off German attacks.[15]

The Battle of Ypres continued until the end of October. The company took part in the action at Gheluvelt, which had begun on 29 October. The action at Gheluvelt ended on the following day, but casualties in the company did not. During the first 5 days of November the company suffered 3 fatal casualties: 18648 Driver C. Seymour (KIA: 2 November), 10676 Sapper Joseph Goulding (KIA: 4 November) and 16244 2^nd Corporal Edwin William Ferris (KIA: 5 November).[16]

Things got quiet in the 7^th Division sector during the remainder of November 1914, so quiet in fact that Rose had a chance to go home on leave. He was still a Captain at this time, but he was the commanding officer of the 55^th Field Company.[17] However, as there was a shortage of officers in the 55^th Field Company, Rose refused to take the opportunity to go home. This was a decision that would cost him his life. The 55^th Field Company War Diary describes the circumstances of his death on 28 November:

“The proximity of the German trenches & bright moonlight made placing barbed wire in front of the trenches a practical impossibility & in the attempt Capt. L.S^t.V. Rose, Commanding the Company was killed, shot thro’ the body, & N^o 23668 Sap Reilly H. & 22374 Sap. Ward W were wounded.”

Capt. J.O’W Moore returned from detachment work collecting materials, coiling wire & fixing steel loophole plates –

“Very keen at his death is felt through the Division, as he was liked by all who knew him, whilst the men of the company feel that they have lost a friend, as well as an officer. He died attempting a very brave act.”

“29 Nov. 1914, Major Rose, commanding the 55^th Field Coy., Royal Engineers, which has been attached to the Brigade during the war, was killed last night putting up the wire outside the trenches – a great loss. Neither he nor his company have spared themselves in helping us with our trenches and wire entanglements the whole time. He was a man full of resource and courage.”

A commanding officer of a unit in the 7^th Division, perhaps in the 20^th Brigade as well, wrote:[20]

“He was a fine officer and a great loss to us all. We were all so fond of him, always cheery and hard-working, he met a soldier’s death in work of great risk and had done already his full share of fighting for his country and for freedom.”

Such a plucky chap, and just the sort we want. He need not have joined in the attack in the wood as he was cutting stakes for barbed wire, and the Brigade came along for an attack, passed his company, so he ordered them to charge with the Brigade and fixed bayonets; it is called the R.E. Charge.”

For his gallant actions during the Battle of Ypres, Major Rose was mentioned in the despatches of Field Marshal Sir John French, published in the London Gazette of 14 January 1915, the same issue as that of his brother’s Mention in Despatches.

F igure 5. The Gravestone of Major L.St.V. Rose, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Find a Grave)

F igure 6. Major L.St.V. Rose, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

Major Rose was buried at the Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, Section 1, Row N, Grave 2. He was 39 years old.

Probate of Major Rose’s Will took place at London on 6 May 1915. His effects were left to Eric Hamilton Rose,[22] a Merchant, in the amount of £2,841, 18 shillings and 9 pence (about $357,000 US in 2024 currency).

According to his Medal Index Card (MIC), Major Rose was awarded the 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches oak leaf for his service during the Great War of 1914-1918. The card shows that he was with the British Expeditionary Force of 1914 and that he served in the 55^th Field Company during his time in France. It also indicates that he disembarked in France on 7 October 1914. The British War Medal was issued to his wife on 30 April 1921 and the Victory Medal on 24 June 1921. The emblems (clasp and rosette) for his 1914 Star were issued on 27 June 1921.

Mrs. Rose applied for her husband’s 1914 Star on 4 December 1917. His entitlement to the medal was apparently verified by the Commander Royal Engineers of the Guards Division on 15 December 1917. She applied for the emblems for the 1914 Star on 14 May 1921 and her address at the time 4, Cromwell Crescent, London S.W.5.

Figure 7. The Medal Index Card of Major Launcelot St. Vincent Rose, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Figure 8. The Medals of the Type that were Earned by Major Rose.
(Image from the author’s collection)

NOTE: The medals shown above are not those of Major Rose. They are included here for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 9. The Rose Residence at 4, Cromwell Crescent, London S.W.5.
(Image courtesy of Google Earth)

ANNEX A

The Life and Military Service of Captain Ronald Hugh Walrond Rose, Scottish Rifles

Figure 10. Captain Ronald Hugh Walrond Rose, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

A very complete history of Captain Rose’s life and war service can be found on the following web sites:

Figure 11. Memorial Photograph of Captain R.H.W. Rose, Scottish Rifles.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Captain Rose’s Medal Index Card shows that he was awarded the same medals as his brother Launcelot.

Figure 12. The Medal Index Card of Captain R.H.W. Rose, Scottish Rifles.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Major
HUGH MUNRO St. VINCENT ROSE
12^th (The Prince of Wales’s) Royal Regiment of Lancers
(Grandfather of Launcelot and Ronald Rose)

[17] On 30 October 1914 Captain Rose would be posthumously promoted to the rank of Major. This was the effective of his promotion as published in the London Gazette on 20 January 1915. Six additional officers of the Royal Engineers were promoted on this date, all posthumously as well. The London Gazette of 20 January 1915 listed them as follows:

CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS

The undermentioned Captains to be

Majors: -

Dated 30^th October, 1914

L. St. V. Rose (since killed in action)

W.S. Douglas (since killed in action)

R. Ommanney (since killed in action)

L.J.N. Neville (since died of wounds)

The undermentioned Lieutenants to be

Captain: -

Dated 30^th October, 1914

A.E.J. Collins (since killed in action)

C.G. Moores (since died of wounds)

H.M. McKay (since killed in action)

28 May 1800:	Date of birth in St. Marylebone, Middlesex.
22 Nov 1821:	Promoted Lieutenant in the Army.
10 Jan 1822:	Promoted Lieutenant in the 12^th Lancers.
9 Jun 1825:	Promoted Captain.
20 Apr 1826:	On half-pay.
11 Apr 1867:	Died at Croydon, Kent.