Hon. John Ross, Q.C., attorney-general for Upper Canada, his mother being a daughter of the Hon. Robert Baldwin, premier of Upper Canada. He was educated privately, and later at King's College, Cambridge. After leaving the university he took to journalism. As a judge of pictures he was in very high repute, and from 1912 to 1914 he acted as adviser to the Board of Inland Revenue on picture valuations for estate duty. The most noteworthy feature of many years of his life, however, was his friendship with Oscar Wilde, whose literary executor he ultimately became. He was responsible for the publication of Wilde's De Profundis (1905), and subsequently for a complete edition of Wilde's works. Not long before his death Ross received from his admirers a presentation of plate, and also a sum of money which, at his request, was applied to the foundation of a scholar- ship at the Slade school of art. He died in London Oct. 5 1918.
ROSS, SIR RONALD (1857- ), British physician and
bacteriologist, was born at Almora, India, May 13 1857. He studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's hospital, and in 1881
entered the Indian medical service. About 1893 he commenced a
series of special investigations on the subject of malaria, and by
1895 had arrived at his theory that the micro-organisms of this
disease are spread by mosquitos (see 17.463, 20.786). In 1899
he retired from the Indian medical service, and devoted himself
to research and teaching, joining the Liverpool school of tropical
medicine as lecturer, and subsequently becoming professor of
tropical medicine at Liverpool University. In 1913 he became
physician for tropical diseases to King's College, London.
During the World War Ross was appointed to the R.A.M.C.
and became War Office consultant in malaria. In 1902 he received
the Nobel prize for medicine, in 1911 a K.C.B., and in 1918 a
K.C.M.G. He has also been the recipient of honours from many
British and foreign universities. He published in 1910 The
Prevention of Malaria, and also produced Psychologies, a volume
of poems (1919), and a romance, The Revels of Or sera (1920).
ROSTAND, EDMOND (1869-1920), French dramatist (see
2 3-7S4). devoted himself during the World "War chiefly to the writing of patriotic verse. Various comic versions of Cyrano
de Bergerac were performed by the soldiers at the front, one of
which, Cyrano de Bergerac aux Tranchtes (1916), was prefaced
by Rostand with some of his own verses. He died in Paris Dec. 2 1920. His two sons, Maurice and Jean, have produced va-
rious works, the former having published a volume of poems,
Le Page de la Vie and Le Cercueti de Cristal, and the latter an
important pamphlet on wealth.
ROSYTH (see 14.718). The development of the German navy
in the first years of the 2oth century rendered it necessary to
create a British naval base suitable for a fleet concentrated in
the North Sea, and in 1903 it was decided to establish a first-
class naval base at Rosyth on the Firth of Forth. Land was
acquired and works were planned, but the development of
possibilities of torpedo attack soon made it evident that the
outer anchorage, as originally designed, would be insecure, and
naval opinion became doubtful as to whether the base would be
adequate. The plans of construction were, therefore, modified
in ,1908, but, up to the outbreak of war, Rosyth was regarded
as the principal base and headquarters for the Grand Fleet,
though it was decided that initial stations must be estab-
lished at Cromarty (see CROMARTY) and Scapa Flow (see
SCAPA FLOW). When the war began, Admiral Jellicoe preferred
to establish his headquarters at Scapa Flow, but Rosyth was
used as a secondary base, particularly for the battle cruisers.
The Firth of Forth had been selected, before the war, as the eastern terminus of a mid-Scotland canal which was to connect with the existing canal and follow its line for part of the way, and then cross- ing the low ground in the neighbourhood of Stirling, to enter Loch Lomond, and ultimately to reach the sea by a short canal from Bal- loch to a point near Dumbarton. The canal was projected not only for commercial purposes but also to enable warships to pass safely and rapidly from W. to E. and to make the great Clyde shipyards easily accessible from the naval base at Rosyth, and thus to avoid the necessity of constructing docks and repairing yards there. The project was again under consideration during the war, but it was obvious that it could not be accomplished in time, and Rosyth was developed as a great dock-yard.
The original scheme included a high-level main basin covering an area of 55 ac., with an entrance lock from the fairway, a dry or graving dock 750 ft. long and no ft. wide, a submarine tidal basin, the construction of an entrance channel, and the erection of work- shops and offices, and work was begun in 1909. The whole site of the works has been reclaimed from the sea, and a great sea-wall was built to form the southern boundary of the docks, the number of which was increased from one to three. Great progress had been made by the outbreak of war, and it was anticipated that the works would be completed by the summer of 1916. Operations were pushed on vigorously during the war, and a special Act of Parliament was passed in 1915 to facilitate the provision of dwelling-houses for Admiralty employees. By the original Act for the construction of the base, the whole area between the town of Dunfermline and the jand purchased by the Government was brought within the municipal area, which was thus extended from 2,016 to 7,730 acres. The erection of houses has involved the construction of new roads, and new water and sewerage schemes.
ROTHENSTEIN, WILLIAM (1872- ), English artist, was
born at Bradford, Yorks, Jan. 29 1872, and was educated at the Bradford grammar school. In 1888 he entered the Slade school, studying under Legros, and afterwards worked in Paris. In 1893 he began exhibiting at the New English Art Club. His
paintings include " The Browning Readers " (1900), " The
Doll's House" (1900), "Aliens at Prayer" (1904), "Jews
Mourning " (1905), " Carrying the Law " (1910), " Morning
at Benares " (1911), " Bourlon Church " (1919), and " The Last
Phase: on the Rhine " (1919). Among his portraits may be
mentioned those of Augustus John, Sir Francis Darwin (1905),
Mr. Charles Booth (1908), Prof. Alfred Marshall (1908), Mr.
Bernhard Berenson (1910), and Sir Rabindranath Tagore
(1912); besides a portrait of himself (1900), now in the Metro-
politan Museum, New York. His work is represented in many
galleries, including the Dublin Gallery of Modern Art, the
National Gallery, Melbourne, the National Portrait Gallery,
Edinburgh, and the galleries of Bradford, Manchester and
Johannesburg. He was in 1917 elected professor of civic art
at the university of Sheffield. His published works include
Oxford Characters (1896); English Portraits (1898); The French
Set, and Portraits of Verlaine (1898); Manchester Portraits
(1899); Liber Junior urn (1899); a Life of Goya (1900); Plea for a
Wider Use of Artists and Craftsmen (1918); Twenty-four Por-
traits (1920).
His brother, ALBERT DANIEL RUTHERSTON (b. 1881), who took the name of Rutherston in place of that of Rothenstein in 1916, was born at Bradford Dec. 5 1881. He studied at the Slade school in 1898, and after 1901 exhibited regularly at the New English Art Club. He became well known as a theatrical designer of great taste and originality, his work including de- signs for The Winter's Tale (1912); G. B. Shaw's A ndrocles and the Lion (1913) and Le Manage Ford (1913). He also illustrated The Children's Blue Bird by Madame Maeterlinck (1913).
ROTHERMERE, HAROLD SIDNEY HARMSWORTH, 1ST VISCT.
(1868- ), British newspaper proprietor and financier, was
the second son of Alfred Harmsworth, and brother of Visct. Northcliffe (see NORTHCLIFFE). He was bora April 26 1868 at Hampstead, London, was created a baronet in 1910, Baron Rothermere in 1914, and Visct. Rothermere of Hemsted after his services as Air Minister, in 1918. He married in 1893 Mary Lilian, daughter of George Wade Share. At the age of 21 he entered the publishing firm in which his brother Alfred (afterwards Lord Northcliffe) was then the principal, soon after the date when Answers was launched. He assisted in developing the business on sound and economic lines, and for the next 20 years he was the close associate of his brother in all his great undertakings and shared in his triumphs. His administrative and financial skill admirably seconded Lord Northcliffe in working out his original schemes. He took an important part in the reorganization of the London Evening News, when his business talent helped to make that once insolvent newspaper a large profit-yielder. He was one of the three principals in the establishment of the Daily Mail (1896), for many years controlled the finance of that newspaper, and was largely responsible for developing its methods of distribution. He was equally active at the Amalgamated Press, the gigantic periodical publishing
