Rose-Troup, Frances

Obituary

Published in DA Transactions, 1942.

Mrs. Frances Batchelder Rose-Troup, F.R.Hist.S., was the daughter of Thomas and Isabella James, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 26th September 1859, and was brought up at Cambridge, Massachusetts. She came to England, and settled at Rockbeare with her mother about 1887. Her interest in Devon was immediate and lasting. Beginning with the photography of churches in the county, she went on to study the history of the West Country generally, and did not neglect the links between this region and the Early Settlers in New England.

In January 1889 she married John Rose Troup, who had recently returned from Central Africa, where he had been a member of H. M. Stanley’s expedition for the relief of Emir Pasha.

For the next fifteen years she lived at Rockbeare, Offwell and Ottery St. Mary; for a similar period, during which her husband died, she was absent from Devon; but returned about 1919. From about 1925 she devoted herself entirely to historical research, mainly in connexion with Exeter and Ottery St. Mary, and became a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her books on these subjects are well-known to students, and her interest in them ceased only with her death.

Mrs. Rose-Troup joined the Devonshire Association in 1887, and at her death had had a longer membership than all other individuals but three.

Her first paper, on Sir Henry Rosewell, was printed in the Transactions for 1888, and she then joined the Council, retaining her seat for fifty-four years. Many others followed, and the last, with her Address, appears in this volume. She was elected President of the Association for 1942–43, being the second lady to occupy that office.

Her researches and publications did not always meet with the full approval of other workers in the same field, but they are nevertheless valuable in themselves, and they often suggest lines which others may follow with advantage.

Mrs. Rose-Troup’s health began to fail in 1941, to the great regret of her friends and colleagues. Turned out of her house in Exeter by the requirements of the military situation she made at least three removes before going to Newton St. Cyres, where she died 28th November, 1942. She leaves a son, Mr. John M. Rose-Troup.

At the Council meeting on the 18th December 1942, the Chairman referred to the loss the Association had suffered by reason of the President’s death, to her wide reading, and the great appreciation which the Association felt in regard to Mrs. Rose-Troup’s work.

Papers published in DA’s Transactions