[3] The family left India in 1877, settling at first in Cannes, then for twenty years spent their summers in Switzerland and winters in Rome, and visiting to England annually.
Ethel and Bessie Charles were both educated privately and together read modern languages at Somerville College, Oxford for a year in 1891–2.
[citation needed] Despite being presented at court, their father encouraged both daughters to explore a profession.
[4] In 1900, Bessie took the qualifying examination for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and was elected, one year after Ethel.
[3] From 1898 to 1905 Ethel and Bessie Charles lived together in Marylebone, London, in a building which provided accommodation for single professional women.