22 November 1945 - 10 October 2022

Written by Ros' husband Nigel and family

Ros (as she was always known) graduated with a degree in physics from Essex University in 1967 and the following year joined Plessey (an electronics and engineering company) in Titchfield, Hampshire, as a research scientist. She specialised in semiconductors and silicon chips in the very early days. Now they are all essential components of everyday electronic devices like smart phones and computers.

A couple of years later, Ros moved from there to Mullards in Southampton which then became part of the semiconductor and silicon research department at Philips (the Dutch multinational conglomerate).

There, she headed up the reliability team and made frequent presentations at its then headquarters in Eindhoven.

She met her future husband Nigel in 1970 and they married in May 1971. Following the birth of their son Richard in 1975 and daughter Elizabeth in 1976, Ros retrained as a maths teacher. 

She joined the St Swithun’s maths department in the mid-80s when the head of department was Nancy Emerson and the headmistress was Olwen Davies (later followed by Joan Jefferson - Lady Appleyard). In one of the academic years she found herself teaching maths to her own daughter Elizabeth.

Ros left St Swithun’s in the mid-90s to teach at Rookesbury Park School in Fareham, following the appointment of her friend Leslie Appleyard (now Watson) as headmistress. Leslie was formerly a housemistress at St Swithun’s.

In her spare time, Ros did a lot of private tuition; often with girls who were at St Swithun’s.

Outside of her two careers, Ros was a keen bridge player and tennis player, and was for many years the chair of the Compton and Shawford Lawn Tennis Club. Ros was also an accomplished pianist and classical music lover. She loved entertaining and cooking especially when family and friends were involved.

Sadly, she suffered a stroke some years ago which ultimately caused her health to go downhill rapidly. She died peacefully amongst her family.