 She completed her training as a nurse with the silver medal, but declined to join the League of St Barnabas, an Anglican society for nurses.She took her midwifery training at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, then returned to St Thomas' Hospital as a ward nursing sister.When war broke out in 1939 she joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QARANC), was mobilised at Congleton, was present during the evacuation from Dunkirk, and served in, among other places, Iran and Italy.