Rosemarie Stewart

Rosemarie Stewart took part in her first British Championship in 1934 when, at the age of 19, she finished eighth in the ladies competition. She concentrated on pairs skating the following year, and partnering Geoffrey Yates, finished second to Violet Supple and Leslie Cliff in the British Pairs Championship. Six months later, Stewart teamed up with Yates’ brother Ernest and again finished runner-up in the 1936 Championship to Leslie Cliff and Violet Supple, who was by then, Mrs. Cliff. Rosemarie Stewart and Ernest Yates took part in the 1936 Olympics, and despite finishing 10th in the pairs, their performance was witnessed, and applauded, by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Stewart left Britain to live in California in 1940 and, with her husband Robert Dench, a fellow skater, they published their book, Pair Skating and Dancing on Ice, in 1943. It was one of the fist books to look closely at the elements of pairs skating. Whilst in America, they also toured with the Ice Capades in the 1940s and 50s, and in 1942 appeared in a comedy film entitled “Ice-Capades Revue”.