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Donald Rose

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Donald Rose
Donald Rose
Donald Rose (aged 109) in November 2024
Birth: 24 December 1914
Westcott, Surrey, England, UK
Death: 11 July 2025
Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, UK
Age: 110 years, 199 days
Country: United KingdomUK
Validated

Donald Rose (24 December 1914 – 11 July 2025) was a British supercentenarian who was the oldest known living man in the United Kingdom at the time of his death. His age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography[]

Donald Rose was born in Westcott, Surrey, England, UK on 24 December 1914. He signed up to the British Army in 1939 and served in the Queen’s Royal Regiment in Guilford, with the 7th Armoured Brigade and fought on the front-line during the Second World War. He joined the Eighth Army as a "Desert Rat" under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in Africa and as part of the liberation of Italy and France. During World War II, he served as a sniper and Desert Rat in North Africa, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He also did his duty with the Queen's Royal Regiment and earned a number of medals during his service. Among these was the Legion D'Honneur - France's highest honour. Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Légion d'honneur is one of the most famous decorations in the world.

He worked even into his early 70s and had various jobs as a labourer, working for the gas board, as a lorry driver and also a bin man.

In 2000, he moved to Derbyshire after his wife, Jeannette, passed away.

In 2020, at the age of 106, he moved to the care home in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

On 25 November 2024, following the death of 112-year-old John Tinniswood, he became the oldest known living man in the United Kingdom.

On 24 December 2024, he celebrated his 110th birthday, becoming a supercentenarian.

Donald Rose died in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, UK on 11 July 2025 at the age of 110 years, 199 days. Following his death, then 109-year-old Hugh Kerr of Scotland became the oldest known living man in the United Kingdom.

Gallery[]

References[]


United Kingdom's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E)

Edward Hicken • Henry Beesley • Jesse Attrill • Edward Stead • Lorenzo Barnes • Robert Gilbert • Cecil Warburton • Sydney Blofield • George Stanforth • John Mosley Turner • John Leng • Frederick Butterfield • James Harrow • Ernest Oxley • Harry Durrant • Arthur Emanuel • James Sellers • Walter Sandford • George Simms • Henry Norman • John Orton • Alfred Grant • John Evans • Samuel Crabbe • Joseph Randle • Jesse Yewdall • William Proctor • David Davies • Vinson Gulliver • David Henderson • Harry Halford • William Lee • Frederick Moore • Harry Laverick • Jerzy Pajaczkowski-Dydynski • Henry Allingham • Harry Patch • Stanley Lucas • Edward Anderson • Reg Dean • Ralph Tarrant • Harold Bracher • Frank Simes • John Mansfield • Alf Smith • Bob Weighton • Harry Fransman • John Tinniswood • Donald Rose • Hugh Kerr

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