Edward Rose (1849-1904), dramatist and critic, was born at Swaffham, Norfolk, on 7 August 1849, the son of a medical doctor, Caleb Rose, and Isabella Morse. He was educated at Islington Proprietary School and Ipswich Grammar School, and also spent time in Scotland and Wales. In 1868 he was articled with the firm of Cobbold and Yarrington, solicitors of Ipswich, but after passing the Intermediate Examination, he left the law for literature, and moved to London in 1872.
Rose had already written comedies and a pantomime for the theatre in Ipswich. His first London work was a one-act comedy called Our farm, produced at the Queen's Theatre in 1871. He went on to write several dozen stage works, ranging from romantic drama to farce, and acted in many of them, specializing in comic roles. His greatest successes, however, were adaptations of other people's stories, notably Vice versa by F. Anstey in 1883, The prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope in January 1896, and Under the red robe by Stanley Weyman in October 1896.
Rose was also a journalist. He wrote for the Illustrated London news for around twenty years, including a series on 'English homes', illustrated by G. Montbard. He was a theatre critic, and a member and Vice-President of the Playgoers' Club. Towards the end of his life he published an educational book, The Rose reader, a new way of teaching to read (London 1902). He was a member of the Fabian Society, and took an active interest in the founding of Letchworth Garden City. Rose had two daughters by his marriage to Elizabeth Ann Gould (b. 1862). He died on 31 December 1904.
From the guide to the Edward Rose: Correspondence and papers, c. 1880-1981, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)
