Rose Paterson

The Honourable
Rose Paterson
Born
Rose Emily Ridley

(1956-08-13)13 August 1956
Northumberland, England
Died24 June 2020(2020-06-24) (aged 63)
Ellesmere, Shropshire, England
Alma materNew Hall, Cambridge
TitleChairman, Aintree Racecourse
Term2014–2020
Spouse
​
(m. 1980)​
Children3
Parent(s)The 4th Viscount Ridley
Lady Anne Katharine Gabrielle Lumley
RelativesMatt Ridley (brother)

Rose Emily Paterson (née Ridley; 13 August 1956 – 24 June 2020) was a British business executive, fundraiser, and the chairman of Aintree Racecourse.

Early life

Rose Emily Paterson was born on 13 August 1956 in Northumberland.[1] She was the daughter of The 4th Viscount Ridley[2] and Lady Anne Lumley (the daughter of The 11th Earl of Scarbrough). Her great-grandfather was Sir Edwin Lutyens, through his daughter Ursula, and her uncle was Nicholas Ridley, a prominent Conservative cabinet minister in the Thatcher government. Her brother, Matt Ridley, is the 5th Viscount Ridley, and she had two other siblings.[1]

They lived near Seaton Burn at the family-owned Blagdon Estate. She was educated at Westfield School in Newcastle upon Tyne and West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks.[1] As a schoolgirl, she ran a book (acted as a bookmaker) on horse racing, and said "I made quite a killing".[2] After school she took a gap year, and then read history at New Hall, Cambridge, and attended an art history course in Venice.[1]

Career

She worked for Sotheby's auction house, provided advice and valuations on artworks.[2] Following her husband's election as an MP in 1997, she was her husband's Shropshire-based personal assistant and office manager.[2]

In 2014, she was appointed chairman of Aintree Racecourse, and stood down from working for her husband in 2015.[2] She had been a racecourse committee director since 2005.[3] In 2014, she became the Jockey Club Racecourses' first female chairman, succeeding The 4th Baron Daresbury.[4]

She was appointed a member of the board of stewards at the Jockey Club, owners of Aintree, in 2019.[3][5]

Personal life

In 1980, she married businessman and future Conservative cabinet minister Owen Paterson, son of Alfred Dobell Paterson and Cynthia M. Owen. [6][3] They had two sons and a daughter.[2] They lived at Shellbrook Hill in Ellesmere, Shropshire,[7][8] a grade II listed building since May 1953,[9] and Hillsborough Castle when Owen was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.[1]

Paterson contracted COVID-19 in 2020.[1] She was found dead in woods near her home that June; West Mercia Police treated her death as "unexplained", and it was not thought that any third party was involved.[6] She was 63.[2]

Her death was later ruled by a coroner to be suicide.[10] The Rose Paterson Trust was founded in her honour.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Rose Paterson, Aintree chairman and wife of Owen who invigorated the Grand National – obituary". The Telegraph. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Robertson, Dominic (24 June 2020). "Rose Paterson obituary: Grandmother, fundraiser and Aintree Racecourse chairman". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Keogh, Frank (24 June 2020). "Rose Paterson: Aintree Racecourse chairman dies aged 63". BBC. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. ^ "'The sort of person you don't meet very often': tributes flow for Rose Paterson | Horse Racing News | Racing Post". Racing Post.
  5. ^ "Jockey Club pay tribute after death of Aintree chairman Rose Paterson". Racing TV.
  6. ^ a b "Rose Paterson, Aintree chair and wife of Tory ex-minister, found dead". The Guardian. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  7. ^ "Shropshire MP Owen Paterson's wife Rose makes Who's Who". www.shropshirestar.com. 7 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Chair of Aintree Racecourse Rose Paterson has died". Chair of Aintree Racecourse Rose Paterson has died.
  9. ^ "SHELLBROOK HILL, Ellesmere Rural - 1176416 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
  10. ^ "North Shropshire MP's wife Rose Paterson's death was suicide, coroner rules". Border Counties Advertizer. 22 September 2020.
  11. ^ "The Rose Paterson Trust". Rose Paterson Trust. Retrieved 14 August 2021.