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Name: ROSE, Jonathan Donald
Birth Date: 18 Aug 1881 Edinburgh
Death Date: 27 Oct 1956 Nairobi
First Date: 1914
Last Date: 1956
Profession: Foreman, PWD
Area: Nairobi, 1930 Box 462, Nairobi
Married: 1. In Tain, Ross-shire 30 Apr 1909 Elizabeth 'Bessie' McDonald b. 21 Nov 1881 Inverness, d. 29.10.1934 Nairobi; 2. In Dingwall, Ross-shire 3 Sep 1936 Catherine Ross b. 15 Apr 1909 Glasgow, d. 22 Mar 1986 Edinburgh
Children: 2. Gordon James Walter (1 Mar 1940 Nairobi-23 Apr 1997 White Rock, BC, Canada); Donald Gavin (24 Nov 1941 Nairobi-25 Dec 1993 Edinburgh); Elizabeth Mary (20 Sep 1943 Nairobi-29 Apr 1960 Edinburgh); Ian Clyne (20 Sep 1943 Nairobi-8 Aug 2023 Fortrose, Scotland)
Book Reference: KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Red 22, Gazette, Medals, Barnes, Red 19
General Information:
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Nairobi District - J.D. Rose, Isherwood & Sons.
Medals - Nairobi Defence Force - J. D. Rose, No. 10389, Private
Gazette - 12/11/1919 - Register of Voters - Nairobi, South Area - Jonathan Donato [sic - transcription error] Rose - Foreman, PWD - The Hill and Mrs Bessie Rose - The Hill
Red Book 1919 - Public Works Department - Foreman -J.D. Rose
KAD 1922 - Assistant Engineer, PWD, Nairobi
1934 Chaudry Mauladad and Rose had a successful construction business, Nairobi
Cynthia Salvadori and Shaila Mauladad Fisher (Chaudry Mauladad’s granddaughter) Settling in a Strange Land: Stories of Punjabi Muslim Pioneers in Kenya: My grandfather Chaudry Mauladad went into partnership with a Mr J D Rose, a Scotsman who was a surveyor for the PWD [Public Works Department], to start a road and building contracting firm, Mauladad and Rose. This was at a time when partnership with an Indian was shunned and considered infra dig. My father was told much later by Duggie Duncan, a quantity surveyor with the PWD, that he was one of the people who had advised Mr Rose not to join his father. He admitted that they who advised Mr Rose were all proved wrong as the partnership was a very successful one, for Mauladad & Rose became a well known road construction company in East Africa. A lot of the murram roads in Nairobi as well as those in Karen, and the original tennis courts at the Karen Club and many other clubs were laid by their company.
In the early 1930s my grandfather and Mr Rose more or less had a monopoly to supply wood fuel for the steam engines of the Railway, and ballast for the railway tracks. They had wood fuel and ballast camps from Uplands to Londiani, Molo, Maji Mazuri, Makutano, Kaptagat, Nyeri and Naro Moru, right across to Kisumu and Mvula Mwitti in Uganda. In those days there were no mechanised tools; the only means of felling trees was with an axe, the only means of doing earth works was with a jembe, a karai and hand-held rollers. At that time they had a labour force of over 4000 people working for them in the various camps. They must have been one of the largest single employers in the country. The Luo, for example, used to refer to a crowd as ‘gremiti ya Maula’, Maula’s force. This is neatly borne out in an interview with a person who grew up near Londiani where, she said, Mauladad had a big camp, and that they Kipsigis referred to a crowd as ‘like people working for Mauladad’. And throughout all this, my grandfather did not speak or write any English! He and Mr Rose always conversed and carried out their business in Kiswahili.
In the early 1930s my grandfather and Mr Rose more or less had a monopoly to supply wood fuel for the steam engines of the Railway, and ballast for the railway tracks. They had wood fuel and ballast camps from Uplands to Londiani, Molo, Maji Mazuri, Makutano, Kaptagat, Nyeri and Naro Moru, right across to Kisumu and Mvula Mwitti in Uganda. In those days there were no mechanised tools; the only means of felling trees was with an axe, the only means of doing earth works was with a jembe, a karai and hand-held rollers. At that time they had a labour force of over 4000 people working for them in the various camps. They must have been one of the largest single employers in the country. The Luo, for example, used to refer to a crowd as ‘gremiti ya Maula’, Maula’s force. This is neatly borne out in an interview with a person who grew up near Londiani where, she said, Mauladad had a big camp, and that they Kipsigis referred to a crowd as ‘like people working for Mauladad’. And throughout all this, my grandfather did not speak or write any English! He and Mr Rose always conversed and carried out their business in Kiswahili.
John Bruce Cairnie’s war diaries: 1917 (22nd December) In the evening I took a ricksha up to the Club, up on the hill, to meet John Munro. The sun had just set and the trees on the top of the hill were silhouetted against the orange red of the sunset, one bright star shone above and the air was still balmy, and full of the whistle of frogs along the road side. Beifer came along with his friend in a little while, & we walked out to Donnie Rose’s house, where we had dinner, pipe tunes on the gramophone and a talk about home. Rose has been out here for 3 1/2 years now. He is in the P.W.D. [Public Works Department] here, and has had rather a bad time with fever, some months ago. He says he got it here, but I think he moves about the country a bit. They seem to have had rather a bad time during the plague outbreak, about a year ago.
Nairobi Forest Road cemetery - Elizabeth Rose, British, age 52, died 29/10/34. Inscription: in loving memory / of / "Bessie" / beloved wife of J D Rose / who died 29th October 1934 / aged 52 years
Nairobi City Park cemetery - Jonathan Donald Rose, died 27 Oct 1956 aged 75