Hon. Rose Maud Talbot (14 September 1915 – 15 February 2009) was an English-born Irish farmer and philanthropist, who emigrated to

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Life

Talbot was born in the large country house of Hartham Park,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England. Her mother was Eva Joicey and her father was Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. Milo Talbot. Her grandfather was the 4th Baron Talbot of Malahide. When she was five, her family moved to another large house, Bifrons Park, near

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. She was educated nearby, but she was not expected to have a career. In 1948, her brother, Milo, succeeded as the 7th Baron Talbot of Malahide, inheriting the family estates in Ireland, which included

Malahide Castle Malahide Castle (), parts of which date to the 12th century, lies close to the village of Malahide, 14 km (nine miles) north of central Dublin in Ireland. It has over of remaining parkland estate, forming the Malahide Demesne Regional P ...

in the north of

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

. Lord Talbot of Malahide frequently moved around as he served with His (and later Her) Majesty's Diplomatic Service, so Rose became the resident overseer at Malahide Castle. In 1949,

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

issued a

Royal Warrant of Precedence A royal warrant of precedence is a warrant issued by the monarch of the United Kingdom to determine precedence amongst individuals or organisations. Most warrants of this type are issued to grant a rank to a member of the nobility or gentry th ...

declaring that Rose would be given the rank of the daughter of a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

, even though her father had not lived long enough to inherit the title; this allowed her to be styled as '

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

'. When her brother, Lord Talbot of Malahide, retired, they fell out and she moved out of Malahide Castle. She lived in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

instead, where she became the Secretary of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA), which helped Irish people who had served with the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

to return and live in Ireland. Her brother, Lord Talbot of Malahide, was interested in stamps and plants. He had inherited a large farm in

that had been established in the 1870s by Thomas Lister Ingham. When he was asked if he would sell it, he went to see the property in 1952. He decided to keep it and he spent money to bring it back to be serviceable. Rose visited with him in 1955. He had an art gallery installed, and he sent back botanical specimens to the gardens at Malahide Castle from his travels. Her brother decided to commission a flora of Tasmania. He died when he was 60, while cruising around the Greek islands, in 1973. This created an enormous problem as his property made the family liable to large death duties in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and it was Rose who inherited the estate, and the problem. She would have liked to have given valuables from the castle to the Irish State but the government would only accept property or money. She caused some controversy when she sold important furnishings to raise the money to pay the debts. She lived at the castle for three years before she ended the family's long association with the castle and gifted it to the Irish state. Talbot moved to Tasmania where she took over the farm. She continued her brother's interest in botany and she paid for the completion of the six volume '' The Endemic Flora of Tasmania''. Rose Talbot died in Tasmania on 15 February 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Rose Maud 1915 births 2009 deaths People from Tasmania Pastoralists