Sir Thomas Kirke Rose died at Hindhead, Surrey, on 10th May, 1953, at the age of 87.
He was educated at Dulwich and entered the Royal School of Mines in 1883, leaving in 1887 with the A.R.S.M. in metallurgy. From 1888 to 1889 he was in the U.S.A. as chemist and assayer for the Colorado Gold and Silver Extraction Co., Denver, returning to England in 1890 to join the staff of the Royal Mint as an assistant assayer. He took the B.Sc. degree at London University in the following year, and obtained the D.Sc. in 1895. He succeeded Sir William Roberts-Austen as chemist and assayer of the Mint in 1902, and held that post until his retirement in 1926. He received a knighthood in 1914.
Sir Thomas was elected a Member of the Institution in 1898, and served on the Council continuously from 1899 to 1912 and from 1914 to 1926. He held the office of Vice-President for the period 1906-1911 and that of President of the Institution for the session 1915-1916. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution for 1920 ‘in recognition of his eminent services in the advancement of metallurgical science, with special reference to the metallurgy of gold’.
His many published works include the following papers published in the Transactions of the Institution: ‘The electrical precipitation of gold on amalgamated copper plates’ (vol. 8, 1899-1900); ‘Refining gold bullion and cyanide precipitates with oxygen gas’ (vol. 14, 1904-05); ‘The alloys of gold and tellurium’ (vol. 17, 1907-08), for which he was awarded ‘The Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, Limited’ Gold Medal and Premium; his Presidential Address, ‘Electrolytic refining of gold’ (vol. 24, 1914-15); and ‘The loss of gold during smelting’ (vol. 28, 1918-19). He was the author of the well-known standard work ‘The metallurgy of gold’, first published in 1894, the seventh edition of which was published in 1937. Another work, ‘The precious metals’, appeared in 1909.
He also contributed papers relating to coinage alloys and to coinage operations to the Institute of Metals, of which he became a- Vice-President in 1916. He had also served on the Council of the Royal Institute of Chemistry. Some of his earlier investigations on the properties of the chlorides of gold and on the occurrence of liquation or segregation in standard gold were communicated to the Chemical Society, of which he was a Fellow. For many years he was a Member of the British Association. He was elected to membership of the Athenaeum under ‘Rule 2’ by which recognition is given to those who, in their own particular sphere, have made notable contributions to the advancement of knowledge.
Dr. S.W. Smith writes: ‘Kirke Rose was elected to Membership only six years after the foundation of the Institution and he was one of the few survivors of a distinguished generation who played prominent parts in its early fortunes, and who were particularly concerned with the rapid advances then being made in the metallurgy of gold‘. Four years earlier in 1894, when in his 29th year, Rose had published the first edition of his Metallurgy of gold, encouraged no doubt by Roberts-Austen, who at that time was sponsoring a series of metallurgical works written by Associates of the Royal School of Mines and published by Messrs. Charles Griffin & Co. This volume became recognized as a standard work and established a world-wide reputation for its author. He saw it through six editions and then, after his retirement, and with the collaboration of Mr. W.A.C. Newman, an entirely new and revised edition was undertaken. This appeared in their joint names as the seventh edition in 1937.
‘Rose’s period at the Mint coincided with a considerable increase in the responsibilities of the chemist and assayer owing to the exacting requirements of gold coinages, which reached a peak in 1912 when some 36,500,000 pieces were issued. When the exigencies of war brought about the change to a paper currency the immense demands for silver continued. The abandonment of the old sterling silver standard in 1920 was naturally a matter for regret to one nearing his retirement and Rose never really became reconciled to the lowering of that standard.
‘Apart from his official duties and metallurgical investigations Rose found many outlets for his abounding and inexhaustible energy. An ardent rock and mountain climber, he spent much of his leisure following this pursuit in Wales and in Switzerland until the outbreak of war in 1914, when, in fact, he was among those who had to find their way back to Great Britain by devious routes. In later years he found recreation in representative teams of chess and bridge players.
‘In recent years the writer has had opportunities, from time to time, of visiting him in his home at Hindhead and there he always found the same buoyant vitality and ready sense of humour which had characterized an association at the Mint over a period of some 26 years.
‘There are few now serving on the Council of the Institution who remember Rose, but three of his former assistants at the Mint, who owe much to his leadership in earlier days, still have that privilege’.
Vol. 62, Trans I.M.M., 1952-53, pp.562-63
