Fulke Rose

Fulke Rose (10 April 1644 – c. March 1694) was an English physician and early colonist of Jamaica. He was one of the principal buyers in Jamaica of slaves taken by the Royal African Company and had extensive land-holdings on the island. He continued to practice medicine in Jamaica and with Hans Sloane attended the former privateer Henry Morgan towards the end of Morgan's life.

Early life and family

St. Thomas in the Vale from Mount Diablo by James Hakewill from A Picturesque Tour of the Island of Jamaica, 1820s. Fulke Rose was born 10 April 1644 in Mickleton, Gloucestershire, to the reverend Thomas Rose and his wife Francesse Rose née Fisher. He had brothers Thomas and Francis who were resident in Jamaica, John who was a merchant in London and William who was an apothecary who was one of the parties in Rose v Royal College of Physicians (1701–03). His will of 1693 also mentions sisters Elizabeth Milner and Martha Langley, and a brother Norgrove.

Career

By 1670, Rose was in Jamaica and already owned 380 acres of land in Saint Catherine Parish.

Among the estates and land he owned at the time he drew up his will in 1693 were the Mickleton, Knollis, and Sixteen Mile Walk estates, all in St Thomas in the Vale, the Angells, land at Maggatty called Warrens and Hipperslys, land and houses in the town of St Jago de Laviega (Spanish Town), lands "over the river at the Red Hills" in Saint Catherine Parish, and lands in the north of Jamaica in Saint Mary and Saint George parishes. In England he owned a farm in Oxney, near Deale in Kent, and Nonnington Farm near Canterbury. He was also returned, alongside George Nedham, as member for Saint Thomas in the Vale Parish for the House of Assembly of Jamaica in 1677 and was a member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica. outwardly, by which means he recovered again.

Death and legacy The Port Royal earthquake of 1692 as imagined by Jan Luyken. Published by Pieter van der Aa View of Port Royal, Jamaica by Richard Paton. Oil on canvas, 1758. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

After the Jamaican earthquake of 1692, in which Port Royal was almost completely destroyed, Rose travelled to London. He died in 1694 and was buried at St Peter's church, Cornhill, on 29 March 1694. meaning that her one-third share of the income from Rose's estates ultimately became available to Sloane who received regular shipments of hogsheads of sugar in the following years.