Legacy Stories
Legacy Stories
Every legacy gift tells a story of connection, gratitude and vision for the future. By supporting future generations of young women, these gifts help ensure that opportunity continues to flourish at Cheltenham Ladies' College.
I will be making a legacy gift because I want to make it easier for girls who have talent in whatever sphere, be it academic, sporting, musical or artistic, to have access to a CLC education.
Margie Leigh, Class of 1963
These tributes honour members of our Bellis community who chose to leave a lasting legacy to Cheltenham Ladies’ College. We remember them with gratitude, celebrating both their lives and the enduring impact of their generosity.
Rosalie was born in Hong Kong. Her father, a merchant in the woollen trade, was originally from Yorkshire and moved the family from Hong Kong to Shanghai where Rosalie grew up in the rather British world of Shanghai Girls’ School. With the outbreak of war and the Japanese invasion, the whole family was taken prisoner and removed to a prisoner of war camp north of Shanghai.
They were housed in a former missionary encampment along with other British families. The camp was well organised for children. Rosalie, aged 10 in 1940, was able to attend ‘school’ as many in the group were doctors or teachers. As a result, the children’s education did not fall behind too much during the four years they were imprisoned.
When the camp was liberated, Rosalie came to the UK. Another girl, who was close in age was coming to CLC and Rosalie joined her. They arrived in the middle of term time and initially the girls boarded in the San until a boarding place could be found in Cambray.
Intelligent and academic, Rosalie thrived at CLC after which she gained a place at Girton College, Cambridge to read Economics, eventually switching to Law. Only a handful of women were studying at Cambridge at this time and she made good friends whilst there. She settled in Yorkshire and started her Articles there later moving to Carlisle where she qualified as a solicitor. She worked for the same firm for her whole career, specialising in Wills, Trusts, and Probate and had a meticulous eye for detail and was renowned for her ability to unravel complex points of Law.
Gardening and travel were her loves. Every year Rosalie would go on a long haul trip to the Far East – Shanghai, Hong Kong, China and also places such as South America and the Galapagos Islands. She enjoyed education cruises with lectures from botanical professors and gained a huge knowledge of plants, customarily knowing their Latin names.
Rosalie appreciated her education both at CLC and Girton and was keen that others should experience the sort of education she so enjoyed and benefitted from. She would be delighted to know that future generations of deserving CLC girls will benefit from her legacy.
Notes from a conversation with Mrs Diana Armstrong, friend and colleague. August 2020.
Who was this quiet, self-effacing woman who influenced so many lives over several decades?
Miss Crossley was courteous, precise, punctual, perceptive, kind, professional, neat and always well presented. Those of us who knew her can see her now in her softly toned tweed skirts and twin sets, sensible shoes and never a hair out of place. She spoke quietly but with authority, she expected high standards from her students and usually got them because she cared for each one individually and believed that, with encouragement, each one could achieve her full potential.
Miss Crossley was the Head of the Domestic Science Department but she was also class teacher for the Citizenship Class and perhaps it was in that role that she had the greatest influence. In those days it was not necessary to have A levels in order to be accepted for nurse training, the police, armed services, social work or many other professions. So I entered Miss Crossley’s Citizenship Class with enthusiasm and delight.
We learnt how our country operates, sitting in on sessions at the Magistrates’ Court and the Crown Court, visiting the water works and sewage works. We went behind the scenes in the Queen’s Hotel, Marks and Spencer and Cheltenham General Hospital. We had lectures from a number of experienced professionals from many different walks of life. Miss Crossley asked us individually to choose different topics, research them and present them as theses. We were also given a budget and told to buy an imaginary house and furnish and equip it, illustrating our choices. I was one among many who had not achieved academically but who thrived in the environment Miss Crossley had created; she inspired self-confidence in us.
My final year at school was not only the happiest but it enabled me to leave with my head held high, ready, after a year volunteering at St Hilda’s East, to enter the profession I had dreamed of since the age of three, paediatric nursing at Great Ormond Street.
Born during the First World War, brought up in her beloved Kendal, Miss Crossley did not approve of many of the changes which took place in society as she grew older. But her loyalty to her old girls and her vital interest in their lives never diminished. What an amazing woman!
A tribute by Sister Frances Ritchie (Guild, 1960, St Helen’s, St Bridget’s)
Rosemary did not follow a conventional career and dedicated her life to her charitable work and interests. She married twice, divorcing her first husband at the age of 28. After this, she started working full time in a variety of roles, a major achievement being helping to establish a hospice in Bath, an organisation with which she had a lifelong association, in particular helping with fundraising initiatives as a volunteer.
At the age of 38 Rosemary married again and moved to the Scottish borders. Whilst there she made the most of her opportunities, contributing in her community by working for a charity which re-homed cats and dogs and learning to fish for salmon in the local rivers. Later she and her husband moved south to live in different towns in England, eventually settling in Cheltenham. Rosemary was widowed in 2012.
Rosemary had many sporting interests and was an accomplished horse rider. She hunted until the age of 40, switching to beagling following a fall. Throughout her life, Rosemary was an avid follower of the National Hunt.
Wherever she lived engaging with the local community was a priority. Rosemary involved herself in local politics and with various local groups and charities. Music was a great passion as was gardening, and her knowledge of history and art was remarkable. She was an expert on Tudor history and completed a two year course on English art at Oxford.
According to her friends Rosemary was, by her own admission, a difficult pupil. One said “I think we need to take into account the era into which Rosemary was born as her achievements might seem a bit thin compared with many other former pupils’ achievements. She made the most of her opportunities, had a variety of interests, and dedicated her adult life to volunteer fundraising”.
Rosemary was in good health until March 2025, enjoying her many interests, such as walking, visiting art galleries, museums and theatres, acting as a guide at Tewkesbury Abbey and supporting many charities, particularly related to heritage and animal welfare. Very sadly she was diagnosed with cancer in April 2025 and soon became gravely ill, moving into the Lilian Faithfull Care Home in Cheltenham where she passed away.
It was later in life that Rosemary reflected on how well CLC had prepared her for life. She was proud of the contribution that CLC still makes to girls’ education and always spoke of College with great affection and respect. She had many happy memories of her time here.
Celebrating the life of Bellis Member, Rosemary Harvey née Steed
We were much saddened to learn of Bellis member, Rosemary Harvey’s passing earlier this year.
In celebration of Rosemary’s life, it was a pleasure to meet up with two of her dear friends on 20th November 2025, Sol Green (Guild and Bellis, née Wicheland, class of 1984) and James Gardner.
At this year’s Cheltenham Literature Festival, and in a fitting tribute to Rosemary’s love of art, a group of Rosemary’s friends sponsored a talk on Constable and Turner. Sol Green later reported that the talk was excellent and remarked how much Rosemary would have loved it. So much so that Sol purchased a signed copy of Nicola Moorby’s book “Turner and Constable – Art, Life, Landscape” and had it inscribed “In Memory of Rosemary Harvey”.
We were touched that Sol decided to gift the book to College’s library, benefitting future generations of girls and ensuring that Rosemary’s memory will live on.
It was a pleasure to introduce Sol and James to Anne Muhlberg, College’s Librarian, when the book was presented and we had an opportunity to hear more about Rosemary’s life and interests.
Rosemary was a passionate advocate for College and we will always be grateful for her support.
Rosemary Harvey née Steed, 1958-1965, Roderic and Fauconberg.
b. 12 August 1947 d. 24 June 2025
Image: Book presentation, CLC Library 20th November 2025
Left to right: James Gardner, Sol Green, Anne Muhlberg (Head of Library Services), Carolyn Roberson (Bellis Chair)
Margaret was born in Liverpool. At age four and a half her father took the family on a world tour sailing for Quebec and Montreal and later traversing Canada by train to Vancouver. From here they sailed via Honolulu and New Zealand to Sydney, returning via Freemantle, Cape town and Las Palmas.
Initially reluctant to attend College, Margaret eventually agreed and later went on to Manchester University to study Drama. She studied at night school to qualify as a member of the Stock Exchange and worked at Tilney, one of Liverpool’s biggest brokers, before moving to a Manchester firm where she became the first woman member of the Manchester Exchange at the age of 27.
From stockbroking, Margaret’s career took a further turn to law, in which field she worked through and on into retirement.
Over the years, Margaret undertook an enormous amount of charitable work assisting over twenty national and international charities.
Zara spent most of the Second World War at CLC. She later recalled how most girls lost fathers or brothers and would regularly arrive at breakfast wearing a black armband. Her own brother, Harold Brook Levinson, a 20 year old Spitfire pilot was killed in 1943.
In the Spring of 1944 Zara left College for a position in the Air Ministry, a Government department responsible for managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964.
By June 1945, Zara had married the impresario David Land, best known for playing a significant role in the development of the careers of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Following their early success, Zara was able to share a life that took her around the world, accompanying her husband to international productions of shows that would go on to shape modern musical theatre.
An elegant and humorous woman, Zara was warm, witty and sociable. She loved gardening, cooking, dogs and word games. Her sharp mind and quiet determination were reflected in her long relationship with the Times Cryptic Crossword Competition which she won at the age of 86 after submitting 20 years of weekly entries.
Zara Land was born on 3rd August 1925 and died peacefully, just over 100 years later on 4th September 2025. She is survived by her son Harold Brook Land and daughter Lorraine Esdaile as well as five of her six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
After CLC, Madeleine attended King’s College, London where she studied Theology. She was later employed at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Bound volumes of photographs and scrap books gifted to Archives during her lifetime, reveal an avid interest in current affairs, in particular the political landscape of Great Britain spanning the decades from the 1950s through to the birth of the 21st century.
Madeleine’s interests were wide ranging and covered the arts, theatre, music and architecture. Close bonds established with her peers at CLC sustained her throughout her life.
Kathleen joined College as she prepared for Higher Certificates and University Entrance Examinations in the Arts. Her passion centred around Fine Arts, Singing, Dancing and Music.
Originally from Alderley Edge in Cheshire where her family had interests in the cloth mills, Kathleen travelled extensively during her life in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She eventually settled in London and, in her latter years, connected closely with College.
Her Volvo 1800 ES two-door Station Wagon circa 1973, designed by Jan Wilsgaard was one of her prized possessions.
She was immensely proud of her connection with Cheltenham Ladies’ College and passionate about the gift of an outstanding education.
Yvonne was born in the summer of 1922; four years after the ‘war to end all wars’ and legislation giving votes to women (albeit women over 30 with an interest in property), four years before the General Strike and seven before the Wall Street Crash. Her family settled in Cheltenham, Yvonne gaining a place at Cheltenham Ladies’ College where she flourished.
The close of Yvonne’s schooldays coincided with the outbreak of yet another war; the 18-year-old exchanging the familiarity, safety and security of her teenage years for lack of certainty and the unknown of enlistment in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (the WAAF) and impending international conflict. Her initial posting was as a Section Officer to the Cabinet War Room, deep beneath the streets of Whitehall. It was during this time that the young woman found herself a victim of the blitz, when a building in which she was attending a meeting took a direct hit and she had to be pulled out of the rubble.
From London, Yvonne moved on to Bletchley Park before being posted to the Lincolnshire air stations of Bomber Command. The conclusion to her war in this country was acted out at the Gloucestershire, Down Ampney, base of Transport Command from where Dakota aircraft towed the gliders packed with troops to be released over Arnhem, Holland, as part of ‘Operation Market Garden’; a strategic disaster from which barely a few hundred returned from the thousands that went.
Yvonne completed her WAAF service in the Middle East; in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and the newly-formed state of Israel. Demobilisation saw her return to London where she set up a secretarial agency. Subsequently she began the early stages of a medical and physiotherapy training before marrying her husband Cedric, a Royal Marine commando officer who had survived the war, despite being seriously wounded along the way.
Eventually the family settled in Cornwall where Yvonne and Cedric began their own property business. The ethic of service to others informed both their work and their charitable activities, which for Yvonne was the Penryn Inner Wheel where she was elected to both Overseas’ Secretary and President. After losing her husband, Cedric, and as a means of coming to terms with the loss of her lifetime partner, Yvonne travelled to Australia visiting family and friends as well as America with the aim of working through these difficult feelings. Eventually this enabled her to return to Cornwall to rebuild her life with a determination to enjoy an actively social retirement.
Yvonne was a valued member of the CLC community as a pupil and through her links with Guild and the Bellis Society. She continued to take an active interest in College in her later years facilitated with the able assistance of her three sons: their visits to College will be remembered with great fondness.
Biographical notes supplied by her son, Peter Walker. June 2021.
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