 Her early education took place in Hampstead before she went to Saint Felix School, a boarding school in Southwold and she worked as a VAD throughout the First World War.In the summer of 1921, she went with her mother to Italy; joining them on the trip were her brother Cedric and a former Oxford friend, Clement Attlee.Within a few weeks of their return, Violet and Clement became engaged and were married at Christ Church, Hampstead on 10 January 1922.