Francis Rose

Who was Francis Rose?

Francis Rose MBE was an English field botanist and conservationist. He was an author, researcher and teacher. His ecological interests in Britain and Europe included bryophytes, fungi, higher plants, plant communities and woodlands.

Rose was born in south London. He studied natural sciences at Chelsea Polytechnic and Queen Mary College, University of London, graduating with a degree in botany. He obtained a PhD in 1953, studying the structure and ecology of British lowland bogs.

From 1949, he taught at Bedford College and other colleges in London. In 1964, he joined the geography department as Senior Lecturer in Biogeography at King's College London, becoming a Reader in 1975 until 1981.

He married in 1943 to Pauline and had a family of three sons and a daughter. Rose was awarded the MBE in 2000. He died at Liss in Hampshire.