August 2024
11 Buckden Roundabout August 2024 Peggy Short Dr Margaret Short or Peggy Short - a fascinating life (Editor: Many readers will have known Peggy, or been aware of her as a character with her little King Charles spaniel walking around the village. But few of us would have been aware of her fascinating life. Sadly she passed away recently. This article is based on extracts from her eulogy) We are here today to celebrate the life of Peggy Short – or Dr Margaret Short – or, to her nieces and nephew and our fami- lies, simply Pegaunt. A name that was coined for Auntie Peggy when we were all very much younger but which has stuck for the last 60 years or so. She was born 98 years ago in a smart suburb of Northampton. The family relocated to Cambridge in the 1930s and Peggy and her brother both attended the Perse School. She always had a love of the natural world and from an early age had pets – guinea pigs, rabbits and a cockerel at one point. She wanted to study science at University but this wasn ’ t encouraged by her parents – science being very much a male dominated profes- sion at the time. But as many of you will know – Peggy rarely took “ no ” for an answer. So she applied for - and got - a place to read Botany at Queen Mary College, London. We have many photographs of her enjoying life in London – there seems to have been glamourous balls aplenty – but she also rowed for London University – something that would be seen as entirely normal today but which wasn ’ t at the time. After graduation she embarked upon a career in scientific re- search. She relocated to Norwich to work at the John Innes Institute which was attached to the research facility at the Uni- versity of East Anglia. She became an expert in her field of plant virology and wrote many papers which were published all over the world. “ The Amino Acid Sequences of the Tryptic Pep- tides of the Cowpea Strain of Tobacco Mosaic Virus Proteins ” - published in the International Journal of Biomedical Mass Spec- trometry – is one of my favourites and one of many such pa- pers with which I imagine you are all very familiar. Her time in Norwich was also the start of her great love for the city ’ s Cathedral which she would continue to support for the rest of her life. Norwich Cathedral in snow (from various an- gles) has been a very familiar Christmas card through the years..! Not content to succeed professionally, in a world where wom- en were meant to know their place, she turned her hand to things mechanical. When she bought her first car she was ap- palled by the attitude of garage mechanics towards a female motorist so she enrolled in a motor mechanics course and did her own repairs and maintenance. After numerous regular cars she bought a highly advanced Citroen with an air cooled en- gine, hydro - pneumatic suspension and a semi automatic gear- box – an unusual sight on the roads in the early 1970s. She choose it on rational criteria - it being far superior to regular cars at the time – but it still ended up being called “ Cochon ” – French of course for pig. Besides being determined and assertive she was also very gen- tle and artistic, being an accomplished water colourist – plants and flowers were always a theme. She was also a talented gar- dener and bred a new rose. Her parents moved from Brampton to retirement in Buckden where our grandfather was church organist at St Marys for many years. Peggy followed suit buying a house in Manor Gar- dens whilst still working in Norwich. She completed her PhD in 1982. Retirement a few years later meant she could get a dog. She always told us it wasn ’ t fair to leave a dog on its own whilst going off to work but now a dog would be her companion for the next 38 years. Peggy had a love of King Charles Spaniels starting with Jamie in 1985 – followed by Georgie, Daniel, Don- na, Claudia, and finally Daisy. The later dogs were older when Peggy took them on - giving them a loving home they haven ’ t experienced as breeding dogs in their earlier lives. They had to be fit though as there were several walks a day and holidays in the Lake District every year. Peggy – like her parents before her – had a love of the Lakes and returned every year for as long as she was able. Nature and the environment was hugely im- portant to her and long before the current environmental con- cerns she was stressing the crucial role the natural world played in our lives and how we ignored it and misused it at our peril. She was a life long supporter of the RSPB, the RSPCA, the National Trust, the Woodland Trust, Guide Dogs for the Blind as well as the RNLI and Norwich Cathedral – and latterly of course the Dogs Trust. Peggy became a regular sight in the Lion and George where she would always be served home made tomato soup made by Lee and his team. She was never afraid of debating with fellow patrons in a logical and rational manner – and only once did she become so infuriated that she felt compelled to pour a pint of beer over her protagonist ’ s head – much to the amusement and approval of others present at the time. Her sharp mind was with her to the end – along with her eyesight, hear- ing, her sense of humour and memory. We were with her when she spotted a picture of David Attenborough in a book. She turned to the nurse and said “ I know him ”. The nurse smiled benignly – but it was true; they had been friends in their stu- dent days. Peggy died of “ Old Age ” according to the doctor – there was nothing else wrong with her. A great life, well lived with purpose, principle, humour and compassion. (Thank you to Peggy ’ s niece, Sarah Merritt for providing this article)
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