Rosemary Parslow

Rosemary Gault became Rosemary Parslow (1936-2026) was a leading naturalist and conversationalist with an enthusiasm for the Scilly Isles.

Life Parslow was born in Stroud in 1936 and her parents were Phyllis (born Bold) and Simpson Millar Gault. After her school education she went to work at the Natural History Museum, London.

In 1958 she discovered the Scilly Isles when she went there to ring birds. She was still working at the Natural History Museum where she knew about echinoderms. However in 1960 she lost her position as she had married and she became pregnant and that was outside the conditions of her work. Her former employers continued to support her work in gathering specimens. Parslow's three children indulged their mother when they spent Christmas in the Scilly Isles where there she could see Ophioglossum lusitanicum bloom. and in 2017 she and Ian Bennallick published The New Flora of the Isles of Scilly which won a prize.

In 2023 the Wildlife trust awarded her the Christopher Cadbury Medal that November in recognition of her work on the Isles of Scilly.

Parslow died in 2026.

Private life Parslow married and divorced three times during her life and she had three children.