Histories

The Hon Mrs Rosaline Joan Youard, wife of Mr Geoffrey Youard, MBE, who died recently, was born on September 8, 1908, the youngest daughter of Lord Atkin, of Aberdovey, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. She was married in 1929.
In 1931. she started farming with her husband at Elmsted Court, near Ashford, Kent. In 1937 she was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn by her father who was then Treasurer of the Inn. For a father to call a daughter was probably unique. From 1938 to 1942 she was headmistress of the Day Technical School for Girls in Folkestone.
In 1941 she was appointed by Mr R. S. Hudson, Minister of Agriculture, to be a member of the Luxmoore Committee on Post-War Agricultural Education in England and Wales, under the chairmanship of Lord Justice Luxmoore. In 1943, when the committee reported, she found that she could not agree entirely with her colleagues and she had the courage of her convictions to write a minority report. Later she served as a member of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England).
During the war, while her husband was away on service, she ran the farm. Her energy was an example to everyone. Often she would risę very early in the morning in the summer, go round the farm, give the orders, and catch the 8 am train for London for one of her public commitments.
In 1946 she was invited by the Foreign Office to visit Germany as a member of a small team to lecture on local government. She was able to stay with her husband in his Army mess. Later that year she joined him permanently in Germany with the whole family, first in Oldenburg and later in Bonn and Dusseldorf.
It was while in the Rhineland that, at the invitation of the Educational Adviser to the Military Governor, she joined the education branch of the Control Commission for Germany.
In 1948 the family returned to England and she joined the Administrative Civil Service as a principal in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, retiring in 1966 with her husband to Eithinog Hall. But it was not complete retirement; she was soon appointed a part-time inspector on the planning side of her old department. She was also active in local affairs.