Rose Paterson

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

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)

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. "Rose Paterson, Aintree chairman and wife of Owen who invigorated the Grand National – obituary". The Telegraph. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  2. Robertson, Dominic (24 June 2020). "Rose Paterson obituary: Grandmother, fundraiser and Aintree Racecourse chairman". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  3. 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. "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.
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