A pupil at Downe with Olive Willis, Rosemary remembered the School fondly and was so proud to have many family connections educated here, in particular, her granddaughters Rachel Powell (DH 2009) and Emma Powell (DH 2010). 

On Saturday 24 November, at her beautiful service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, where she was married in 1952, her son Nicolas Powell spoke of his mother’s severe dyslexia and how Olive Willis described Rosemary as ‘her little exception’. 

After leaving Downe House in 1932, Rosemary went on to train as a voluntary aid detachment (VAD) nurse providing civilian nursing to the military in the Second World War. 

In an obituary, her family said, 'She had known the cost of war. 

'Four of her uncles died in the First World War; another was a lifelong invalid from Afghanistan in 1914; her fiancé was killed in a plane crash and her brother, who won the MC for bravery in Egypt, died of cerebral malaria or possibly suicide; two godfathers died and her father was badly wounded at the Somme. 

'From her prodigious memory she could recall the London bombing raid on November 28 1916, and her first meeting with her father when she was four, when he finally returned from active service.' 

'Rosemary was allotted to Madame Ethel Florey as her special nurse, and was probably the second person to save someone's life with an injection of the new, dark yellow, syrup-like penicillin. 

'Because the injections were slow, Madame used to give a cocaine injection first. 

'Rosemary suggested including cocaine with the penicillin, and the one injection was a success. All survived.’ 

According to her family, Rosemary was an incredibly practical and resourceful woman. She had a 'make-do-and-mend' attitude that remained throughout her life. Her subsequent training as a dressmaker stood her in great stead throughout her life and enabled her to give back to the Parish that she so fondly loved. 

The Reverend Alan Gyle of St Paul’s Knightsbridge shared many examples of Rosemary’s commitment to the Church and to charity in his moving Eulogy. He recounted Rosemary as ‘not just a great church woman, but a relentlessly faithful disciple’. She clearly committed a great deal of her time and expertise to the parish over the years, practically and spiritually.  

Her family will remember her for her wonderful storytelling, her ability to entertain despite her shyness, her passion for gardening, her thriftiness and her great precision with a shotgun. 

A truly inspirational Downe House alumna, she will missed but never forgotten. 

Rosemary is survived by survived by three sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.