Her father, C.S Ludlam, was a metallurgist and artisanal miner who made his money in copper in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia.
[4] Her formal education was interrupted for two years while she and her mother accompanied her father on prospecting expeditions in Tanzania and Uganda, helping him to pan for gold near Entebbe.
[1] In 1944, near the end of World War II, she was recruited by British naval intelligence and worked at Bletchley Park, in Hut 8, translating decoded German Navy signals.
Mayhew came up against previous barriers during her time spent at Bletchley Park decoding crucial messages, encountering issues which women faced during the wartime, which were hard to overcome.
[1] In March 2019, the Mayhew Theatre at the Foreign Office's Diplomatic Academy was opened by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.