 The daughter of a solicitor, she was educated at Chinthurst School in Surrey and later at Downe House School in Kent.She remained at the school after it moved to Berkshire, under the headship of Olive Willis, and then went on to read English at Newnham College, Cambridge.After her graduation in 1929, she worked as a volunteer on the excavation of Richborough, Kent, under J. P. Bushe-Fox.