Mabel Rose (1872 -1934)

Mabel Bessie Louise Rose was a very talented musician from Bunbury who left to pursue a career in England.

Early Life

Mabel was born in Parkfield in 1872 and was the only child of Charles and Madeleine (Viola) Rose. Her parents were  pioneers in the Manjimup area, having built a home and farm at Wilgarup but Mabel was born in Parkfield and grew up mostly in Bunbury (reference, reference). Mabel’s mother, Viola, was a talented musician who often sang and played the piano at functions and was close friends of the then governor, Sir William Robinson, who was also a music lover (reference).  Mabel was a talented pianist at a young age and when, at ten years old, she played the piano at a function in Bridgetown, it was reported that “the performances of Miss Mabel Rose (a mere child) on the piano were simply marvellous.” (reference). 

Mabel often gave performances on  the piano as well as the violin and was very involved with the musical scene in Bunbury while she was there  ((reference), reference, reference, reference).

Mabel’s father, Charles, died in 1886 after which her mother ran a boarding school for girls at Field Place, Bunbury for several years before she accompanied Mabel to England (reference, reference).

England

In the early 1890s, Mabel and her mother travelled to England and Mabel continued to perform there. In 1892, she gave solo performances in a concert at Needham Markets that we enthusiastically received with calls for encores and then in 1894 she gave a piano recital at St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, to an audience of 2,000 people (reference). A correspondent from Norwich reported that she had

“made her mark as a pianiste.” and went further to say

 “It is expected that she will shortly appear before one of the members of the Royal Family as a young colonial pianiste. Miss Rose is naturally very proud of the honour as she says it is all for the credit of Western Australia.” 

In regards to this performance, Mabel’s mother received a letter from an eminent music critic saying:

“I think I need not tell you how very much pleased I was with the remarkable performance of the Tannhauser march to which Miss Rose treated us last Thursday. Her execution seemed to me faultless, and her style extremely finished. I was very glad to find how completely the large audience recognised the lady's talent and appreciated her playing, and it added to the pleasure of listening to see how thoroughly happy in her art the young performer was” (reference).

It is not known whether her music career developed further as nothing appears to have been reported on Mabel until June, 1898 when The London Post reported that a marriage had been arranged between Mabel and Mr George Dyson Buckley (reference).

Madeira

Whether there was a mistake in the report of Mabel’s upcoming marriage or something else happened, six months later in January 1899, Mabel married Dr John Geddes-Scott in Funchal, Madeira and made a home with him there (reference). The couple only had one child in January, 1907. The baby died soon after birth and Mabel became seriously ill after giving birth and was still recovering a month later (reference, reference).

World War 1

During World War 1, Dr Geddes-Scott joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in France and Mesopotamia as well as on hospital ships (reference). While her husband was deployed, Mabel returned to England to help with the war effort. She was one of the original Red Cross Workers at Harefield Hospital and worked there until 1919 . As well as helping with looking after the wounded, Mabel also entertained them. She had also added whistling to her repertoire as in a report about her  work, it said she would “be best remembered by the "boys" as the lady who played, and whistled so well”, On the eve of the hospital closing, Mabel sent a message to the hospital’s internal newspaper, the Boomerang saying 

“This is your final issue so I can't wish the paper long life but I do wish all good luck to those of my countrymen and women who have kept their end up so well.” (reference, reference)

Death of Husband and Return to Western Australia

After the war, Mabel and her husband John returned to Madeira but on December 31st, 1931, John died suddenly after contracting pneumonia (reference, reference). Following his death, Mabel returned to Western Australia to visit her mother (reference). She stayed eight months and during that time she was engaged by 6WF as a novelty entertainer performing whistling and piano solos (reference reference, reference).

Mabel left Western Australia on the 31st July, 1933 and returned to her home in Madeira. Mabel died early in the  following year at 62 years of age. There were no details of her death but her mother must have gone over to be with her beforehand as the death notice in the West Australian was sent by cable (reference).

Researched by Gaye Englund for Streets of Bunbury