William
Rose
Inventor
of a Wrapping Machine
Born: 14th November 1857
Died: 1929
In 1885 William Rose launched a tobacco wrapping company in the town using his own design for an automated wrapping machine. It wrapped ½ oz packets of tobacco. In 1893 Richard Harvey Wright bought the possession of rights to sell the wrapping machines in US, Canada and Cuba. With this money William Rose improved and perfected the wrapping machine. Many of the Gainsborough machines were exported to the US.
In 1898 William Rose launched a small company to build cars in Gainsborough.
The company built 50 Rose Nationals in 1902. They were all sold, many to personal friends of William Rose. The standard car had a 3-cylinder engine but there were more powerful models also available. In all there were six different models with the earliest ones having a wicker body. This was later replaced with coachwork and leather upholstery.
Figure 1: Rose standing next to one of his Rose Nationals, circa 1906
The price of a six-seater Landau letter (covered) style Rose National, complete with electric lights, was £625 at a time when a farm worker would earn 16s per week.
During
the Second World War, Rose produced Bofors guns and designed and built the Rose
turret used in Lancaster bombers – the turret’s original design had poor
visibility; Rose’s new design was produced in three weeks and was a vast
improvement on the previous model.
For a more detailed history of Rose Brothers follow this link.
