A house named Rose Bank appears in the 1841 census of Great Malvern. It was the home of Mary Ann Wilmot the widow of Sir Robert Wilmot 2nd Baronet (1753-1834) of Osmaston Hall in Derbyshire. The Wilmot family lived at Rose Bank from about 1840 to 1880. Lieutenant General Eardley Nicholas Wilmot of Rose Bank was named as a magistrate in the 1873 Post Office Directory. In 1826 his sister Mary Ann married General Sir Richard Church at Worthing. The 1871 census confirms she was the wife of General R Church KCH who was then in the service of the King of Greece.
The 1901 and 1911 census recorded Rose Bank occupied by George Silas Guy born about 1837 and his second wife Hannah. George's occupation was recorded as 'managing director of an iron and steel tube manufacturory'. George Guy died in 1912.
Rose Bank House, which had double fronted bowed windows offering panoramic views over Worcestershire, and its large gardens were purchased by local benefactor Charles William Dyson Perrins in 1918 and gifted as an amenity to the town of Great Malvern in Worcestershire, UK.
Rose Bank was used by the Womens Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) during WWII, but, according to reports, the house fell into decay and was demolished in 1959, a year after Dyson's death.
The gardens today
Rose Bank Gardens, situated above Belle Vue Terrace, to the south of the Mount Pleasant Hotel remain an attractive place to walk, rest, and access footpaths onto the hills.
A notable feature is a sculpture of two buzzards in flight, installed in 2012, to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.