Molly Rose was born on 26 November 1920 in Cambridge, England. Her parents were David and Maude Marshall. Her father formed Marshall Motor Holdings and Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group. She had two older brothers, Arthur Marshall and Ronald. Ronald died of meningitis in June 1907. With four older and one younger sister she was brought up in quite a lively household. Margery, Dorothy, Violet, Mary and Brenda. Her mother, Maude, died in 1930 when Molly was 10 years old and she and Brenda were, to all intents and purposes, brought up by their older sister Vi. After schooling at Paston House and then Slepe Hall, St Ives, in 1938 Molly was sent to Paris to a Finishing School - that of Mademoiselle Le Dieux at 8 Avenue de Villaire - from January to June. Having enjoyed flying as a passenger in her brother Arthur's de Havilland Gipsy Moth, it was unsurprising that in 1938 she passed her pilot's licence. Her father David Gregory Marshall had, by this time, developed the Marshall Motors business he set up in 1909 and her brother, Arthur, the Cambridge Flying School. On returning from Paris Molly's father suggested she became an apprentice engineer and she worked in the hangars of the family business until called up by the Air Transport Auxiliary.
Career
Rose joined the Air Transport Auxiliary on 16 September 1942 and delivered 486 aircraft during World War II, 38 different types of aircraft including 276 Spitfires. After the war, she raised three sons with her husband Bernard and became a Justice of the Peace in Oxford in 1952. She was active raising funds for various charities in Oxfordshire, was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire in 1983 and was awarded the OBE for Services to Oxfordshire in 1990. Molly also served as a Parish Councillor in the village of Appleton in Oxfordshire.
Later life
Molly and Bernard lived in Bampton from 1946 until 1974 when they moved to live in Appleton Manor. In 1986 they moved back to Bampton to live in Bampton House. She died on 16 October 2016 at the age of 95.In 2018 the Molly Rose Trophy was created and is awarded each year to the winner of the armed forces women’s rugby match held at Twickenham.
