Oxford Ghost Signs: Will R. Rose at 133 High Street
The photography firm Will R. Rose Ltd took over 133 High Street when it was rebuilt in 1937, and the name WILL R ROSE was incorporated into the railings of the second-floor balcony. This firm remained here until 1964.
The eponymous William Horace Thomas Rampling Rose, who called himself Will R. Rose, was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk on 28 November 1872. He started off as a chemist's assistant in Lowestoft and married Maude Richmond Gale Braddyll in Ormskirk in 1904. They had no children.
By the time of the 1911 census he was living with his wife and their parlourmaid and cook at 10 Dee Hills Park in Chester and ran his own business as a dealer in photographic materials.
In the 1921 census he described himself as photographic chemist whose premises were at 23 Bridge Street Row, Chester. He now lived at a grand house called Llyndir in Rossett in Denbighshire (now Wrexham), Wales.
He died at Llyndir on 1 November 1935, and his effects came to over £26,877.
Mr A. Read and R. Rose of this Oxford branch attended his funeral, and presumably they were the ones who rebuilt Will R. Rose's shop here and incorporated his name into the railings.
The 1939 register shows William R. R. Rose, born 18 June 1907 and described as the assistant manager to Will R. Rose Ltd (Photographers), living at 12 Bainton Road, Oxford with his wife Anne.