‘Elegant lady’ who stood her ground for Leamington
Rita Hiscox obit
A MEMORIAL service will be held for a doughty defender of Leamington’s character and architecture who has died, aged 97.
Rita Hiscox, who was better known by her maiden name Human because she was 81 when she married, was a chairman of the Leamington Society, chairman of the Leamington Literary Society, supporter of the Loft Theatre and a key member of the now disbanded Leamington Recorded Music Group.
During her membership of the Leamington Society she helped see off plans to build an indoor bowls centre on Victoria Park and campaigned for the renovation and revamp of the Royal Pump Room for public use when it was under threat of being taken over by a private company.
Leamington Society member Janet Storrie, of Heath Terrace, said of the former governess, teacher and lecturer; “She was such an elegant, nice lady. She did not ruffle feathers but she stood her ground.
“She was not aggressive but she knew what was right and stood by it, She was a great friend to us and was very happy in Leamington.”
Mrs Hiscox lived in Derwent House, Beauchamp Avenue, and before that Abbey Hill, Kenilworth.
From 1949-1978 she was an English lecturer at Coventry College of Education and when it was incorporated into Warwick University she specialised in spoken and written English literature and drama until she retired in 1980.
She married Gaius a decorated former Royal Navy pilot in 1998. He died in 2001.
Fellow Leamington Society member Margaret Watkins, of Regency House, Newbold Terrace, said: “She looked on Leamington as a lovely Regency town and was against anything that would spoil it.
“She fought very hard against a betting shop on the bottom of the Parade. She thought it was not in keeping with Leamington.”
Also the secretary of the Leamington Literary Society, she said Mrs Hiscox was made a an honorary life member and played host to many literary salons in her home.
“She was very hospitable, loved entertaining and she always served everything on china. A very elegant person but not snobby – one of the nicest people you could meet.
“She was the epitome of an elegant Leamington.”
When the contents of Mr Hiscox’s home went under the hammer the sale of her collection of books, jewellery, pictures and furniture created a great deal of interest, including a rare 1607 copy of The Breeches Bible, the first innovative English translation from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek used by English Protestants when they fled overseas after Queen Mary restored Catholicism in England.
Mrs Hiscox died in October whilst in care at St Leonards on Sea where she moved to be near her family in 2009.
The memorial service is at 2pm on February 22 at Holy Trinity Church in Beauchamp Avenue, the church she attended in Leamington.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leamington
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
