See also
| Husband: | John Rose Holden (1810-1860) | |
| Wife: | Mary Hutchinson ( -1849) | |
| Marriage | 8 Apr 1834 | |
| Name: | John Rose Holden | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | William Rose Holden (1775-1854) | |
| Mother: | Betty Everleigh ( - ) | |
| Birth | 22 Feb 1810 | Beaminster, Dorset |
| Death | 1 May 1860 (age 50) | Lark Hill, Worcester |
| Name: | Mary Hutchinson | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Death | 1849 | |
John Rose Holden (1810-1860), soldier and settler, was born on 22 February 1810 at Beaminster, Dorset, the son of Rev. William Rose Holden and his wife Betty, née Everleigh. He was commissioned an ensign in the 17th Regiment on 26 November 1829 and in 1831 came with it to New South Wales. He soon acquired land and had two assigned servants by 1832. On 8 April 1834 he married Mary, the third daughter of William Hutchinson. They had sons and a daughter, but only George, born in May 1833, and one other son, Henry Augustus, seem to have survived infancy.
In 1834 Holden resigned from his regiment and settled at Retreat Farm, near Liverpool. He soon took an interest in the Parramatta horse-racing, and one of his horses won a place in the inaugural St Leger Stakes in 1841. In 1842 he was present at the meeting which led to the foundation of the Australian Jockey Club. By this time Holden was once more living in Sydney, where he was active in the campaigns for representative government and in opposition to the incorporation of the city of Sydney. But when Sydney City Council was created in 1842 he was elected as a councillor.
For some years Holden took a prominent part in colonial affairs, becoming a director of the Mutual Fire Insurance Co. and of the Sydney Infirmary, and in 1845 a magistrate of the city of Sydney. In 1843 he became a director of the Bank of New South Wales, then a vice-president of the bank in 1846, and in 1851 he became its president.
In 1851, Holden was elected the Legislative Council for the Cumberland Boroughs. He resigned in 1853 and soon afterwards returned to England. He was known to his contemporaries primarily as a sportsman, but rather too much of a gentleman for the rough and tumble of politics. After his wife died in September 1849 he married Susan Broadhurst. They lived in London and at Lark Hill, Worcester. He kept up an interest in New South Wales, where he still had property in Macquarie and Bent Streets, Sydney. He died at Lark Hill on 1 May 1860.
Parsons, Vivienne, 'Holden, John Rose (1810–1860)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/holden-john-rose-2193/text2829, accessed 13 April 2012, abridged.
HOLDEN John Rose Esq., 14 January 1861. The Will and Testamentary Paper therein referred to of John Rose Holden formerly of Paramatta near Sydney in the Colony of New South Wales but late of the City of Worcester Esquire deceased who died 1 May 1860 at Worcester aforesaid was proved at Worcester by the oath of George Holden of 15 Vineyards in the Parish of Walcot in the City of Bath Gentleman the Son one of the Executors. Effects under £1,500.