Rita Marshall (1934–2008) was a journalist who became the first woman home news editor for The Times[1] She was born in South London, attending first Greycoat School and then the City of London College, where she gained the Royal Society of Arts' diploma in shorthand and typing.
She has a half-brother named Robin Norman Marshall Clement (1941) who lives in North Carolina.
Her father, Jack Marshall, was a receptionist in the lobby at the Daily Express, who took the opportunity to speak to Lord Beaverbrook about taking her on as a journalist.
In 1974 she was appointed Home News Editor, where she expanded the scope of reporting beyond politics and crime.
[1] During the eighties she became the partner of Pearce Wright, the science editor of The Times.