Rita Marshall (1934–2008) was a journalist who became the first woman home news editor for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' She was born in South London, attending first Greycoat School and then the

City of London College London Guildhall University was a university in the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2002, established when the City of London Polytechnic was awarded university status. On 1 August 2002, it merged with the University of North London to form Londo ...

, where she gained the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

' diploma in shorthand and typing. She started her career at the Stratford Express in 1954, and then moved to the

Junior Express ''Express Weekly'' was a British children's comic magazine, published between 1954 and 1962 under a progression of titles: ''Junior Express'', ''Junior Express Weekly'', ''Express Weekly'', and ''TV Express Weekly''. The publication was similar ...

, where she multi-tasked as a reporter, feature writer, sub-editor and layout woman. She has a half-brother named Robin Norman Marshall Clement (1941) who lives in North Carolina. Her father, Jack Marshall, was a receptionist in the lobby at the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'', who took the opportunity to speak to

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...

about taking her on as a journalist. This succeeded and in 1956 she moved to the paper where she worked for eleven years, before moving on to ''The Times''. She was recruited to her new post as part of an attempt to liven up the paper. She was one of the first women reporters employed by the paper. In 1974 she was appointed Home News Editor, where she expanded the scope of reporting beyond politics and crime. In 1976 Charles Douglas-Home became home editor and Marshall was reassigned to special reports, firstly as an assistant editor and then as deputy editor from 1981. During the eighties she became the partner of

Pearce Wright Pearce Wright (1933–2005), was a prominent British science journalist who became science editor of ''The Times''. Biography Pearce Wright was born in Plymouth on 23 February 1933 and educated at Bedford School before training as a radiol ...

, the science editor of ''The Times''. After his death in 2005, Rita moved into Pickering House, Dorking (a nursing home run by the Journalists’ Charity) where she lived until her death in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Rita 1934 births 2008 deaths The Times journalists