Rose History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Researchers have been unable to trace the origin of this Clan to before 1155, as the Clan apparently took no part in the ancient rebellion of the Moray Clans and therefore was not recorded as being transported by Malcolm IV (as many of their neighbors were).

However, the answer may lie with a knight named Ros, of Ros, near Caen, who accompanied William the Conqueror and was given lands in 1069 in Kent, England by the half brother of the Conqueror, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Those territories were either enlarged or acquired by a marriage to the heiress Mary Bosco.

The Boscos were a noble Norman family. During that period of unrest many noble families moved northwards in the train of Margaret, King Malcolm Ceanmore’s second wife, to escape the ponderous rule of William. Because of the tightly knit family connections of the Rose and the Bosco families, the origin seems quite certain.

Early Origins of the Rose family

The surname Rose was first found in Nairn, in Kilravock County, Scotland. The family settled in this area in 1282, when Hugh Rose of Geddes married Mary, daughter of Sir Andrew de Bosco. Mary Bosco was the heiress of the Bissets of Lovat. Hugh Rose was the son of the Hugh Rose of Geddes who witnessed a Charter in Beauly prior to 1219 and is the first recorded Chief of the Clan. Hugh of Kilravock (the son) was one of the few who did not submit to King Edward I of England in 1296. His son, William, captured Invernairn Castle for Robert the Bruce in 1306. 1