Rosamund was one of the “forgotten generation” of women who forged lives for themselves in the Aftermath of the First World War.
Rosamund Sybil Essex was born in Bournemouth on 26th July 1900. Her parents were Herbert James Essex, a church minister, and his wife, Rachel Bissett Essex, nee Watson. Rosamund had a brother, Philip Louis George Essex, who was born in 1895. Educated at Bournemouth High School for Girls, Rosaumund went on to study at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, where she obtained a Master of Arts Degree (M.A.). Her brother, who went to study medicine at the College of Medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1912, abandoned his studies and joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1914, was promoted to the rank of Temporary Sub Lieutenant in March 1916 and died in 1917. He is remembered in St Clements Church, Bournemouth, WW1 (WMR 51401).
In 1917, Rosamund’s headmistress told the girls that only one in every ten women could hope to find a husband “Nearly all the men who might have married you have been killed. You will have to make your way in the world as best you can. The war has made more openings for women, [but] you will have to fight. You will have to struggle."
Rosamund wanted to become a priest like her Father, but that was not possible for a woman back then. She had also hoped to marry and have children. In her book “Woman in a Man’s World” (Sheldon Press, 1977), Rosamund tells us of her struggles to overcome the difficulties faced by women during that time and how she realised her dreams by adopting a little boy, becoming Editor of “The Church Times” from 1950 to 1960 and becoming a lay reader.
“The highlight of all my work in the Church came in 1969 when quietly, almost unnoticed by the Church at large, a canon law was given royal assent which allowed women to be readers.
Rosamund died on 11th April 1985. Her book was an inspiration to me when it was published in 1977.
