Rose was said to have been the first to buy a copy of Philip James Bailey's 1839 poem Festus, which had been slow to leave the shelves of Wilmot Henry Jones, 'the 'Manchester Moxon, the provincial poets printer'.[5] The Chartist bookbinder Benjamin Stott included a sonnet to Rose in his Songs for the millions, and other poems (1843).[6] The Kilmarnock poet John Ramsay dedicated his 1844 collection Woodnotes of a Wanderer to Rose.[7]
Most of Rose's verse was published in newspapers, though two poems, The Coronation (1838) and The Bazaar (1839) were published separately.[1]
Rose died in police custody on 19 June 1849, imprisoned after a drinking spree. He was 43 years old. He was buried in Manchester General Cemetery on 21 June 1849.[1] His fellow poet John Bolton Rogerson, who was the cemetery's registrar, read a specially composed service over the grave. Lines of Rose's own verse were inscribed on his gravestone:
I’d rather have my tomb bedew’d at eve, With the lone orphan’s or the good man’s tear, Who softly stole at twilight here to grieve, And sobb’d aloud — THE FRIEND OF MAN RESTS HERE! I’d rather have this quiet humble fame Than hollow echo of an empty name.[8]
Charles Kenworthy wrote a poem mourning Rose's death.[9]
The coronation : a poem. With reflections on the occasion. Dedicated to Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria. London: Longman and Company. 1838.
The bazaar, a poem : embracing thoughts on the progression of knowledge in connection with it. Manchester: Printed by T. and J Belshaw, Market-Place. 1839.