[1] Her parents were cotton merchant Samuel Marshall Bulley and Mary Rachel née Raffles.

The principal of Newnham, Anne Clough, was a friend of their parents and had persuaded Mr and Mrs Bulley to send their daughters south.

This was not an easy task as the girls involved found the work difficult as they had not been prepared for higher education.

Bulley served as secretary to the college and despite her interventions only a few students would attend examinations because of the fear of failure.

Bulley arranged for students to stay behind to have tea with her as she knew that they would normally return straight home and not enjoy any camaraderie.

Three years later, her botanist brother, Arthur Bulley stood for parliament on behalf of the women's suffrage movement.