William John Rose was born in 1885 near Minnedosa, Manitoba. He attended Wesley College, where he prepared for missionary work in China. He won a Rhodes scholarship and studied at Oxford University, where he obtained both his BA (1908) and MA (1912). He returned to Wesley College as a lecturer in classics and mathematics. In 1914, he went to Poland as a particular worker for the World Students' Christian Federation. While there, Rose became keenly interested in Poland's history and culture. When World War I began, he was in Austrian Silesia, detained as an enemy alien. Between 1920 and 1927, he served as a relief worker in Poland with the YMCA. He also completed his Ph.D. at the University of Krakow (1926). After teaching at Dartmouth College, Rose accepted a position as a Polish reader at the University of London and quickly rose to become head of the School of Slavonic Studies (1939-1950). Although retiring in 1950, Rose remained very active. He helped establish the Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of British Columbia, served as a special lecturer there from 1951 to 1954, and in 1956 was named Professor Emeritus of Slavonic Studies. After leaving UBC, he moved to Naramata, B.C., where he served on the Christian Leadership Training School staff, also known as the Naramata Centre. He died in 1968.