The death of Barbara Joan Marshall at the age of 99 on 30 May 2017 severed the last link with a Banbury business, Lloyds Menswear, that flourished from 1929 until 1982. Barbara was born in Bolton, Lancashire, but at the age of seven moved to Newbury when her father, William Lloyd, took over the management of the clothiers and drapers business founded in Cheap Street by her mother’s Scottish grandfather, Robert Bell. However, in 1929 William moved to Banbury with his family to open his own shop in the picturesque Old Houses, High Street. He subsequently relocated to 76A High Street, sharing the ground floor with Johnsons the Cleaners but occupying several floors above both shops. The full-width windows of his spacious first-floor showroom remain a curious feature of the street-scene.

Barbara was sent to Banbury County School, then in Marlborough Road, but was among the first to move to its splendid new premises in Ruskin Road. Her silver hat-badge was subsequently worn with pride by successive head girls of the grammar school. On leaving school, Barbara worked first at Judges in the High Street, but then went to E P Rose, a department store in Bedford, and finally to Joseph Johnson’s in Leicester. It was here that she met William Marshall who she was later to marry. As with so many other romances, however, the War intervened. ‘Bill’ joined up as soon as he could and was involved in campaigns in Africa (as a “Desert Rat”), Italy, France and Germany. Barbara eventually followed his example and joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in 1941. She spent much of her war service in Oswestry, Shropshire, where she took great pride in the smartness of her girls as she marched them through the streets. In fact, as a Staff Sergeant she out-ranked her husband when they finally married at St Mary’s Church in 1945, though only he was in uniform!

Through the 1950s Bill and Barbara – and eventually their three children – lived in a thatched cottage in Kings Road, Bloxham. However, following the death of William Lloyd, they took on ownership of the business and moved back to the Lloyd family home in Park Close, Banbury – an historic stone house overlooking People’s Park and once the core of Ark House School. The menswear business also moved, first to George Street and finally to Broad Street – much larger premises now occupied by Ladbrokes. After two more house moves, and shortly before Bill’s death, Bill and Barbara left Banbury for good in 1995, but Barbara continued to live in their bungalow in Chipping Norton until 2013, vigorously pursuing her interests in gardening, music, art and the local Methodist Church, as well as seeing as much as possible of her beloved family. Barbara’s final move was to a care home in Bury St Edmunds where she could regularly enjoy the lovely village garden created by her professional-musician daughter, Jane, and her husband Andrew. Barbara’s warmth and humour endeared her to those around her until the very end. She is survived by her children: John, Sue and Jane; by five grandchildren and by four great-grandsons.