She lived in the parish named Orcheston St Mary, where her father, John Wardale, was the rector.
[1] She studied the phonology of a psalter created by the German scholar Notker Labeo and in 1892 the University of Zurich conferred a doctorate on her in recognition of this work.
[1] Wardale was the first woman to serve on the medieval and modern languages and literature faculty board in 1921.
In 1923 she was a supporter of Cecilia Ady after she protested her arbitrary dismissal by Eleanor Jourdain, who was the principal of St Hugh’s.
The Vice-Chancellor conducted an investigation with wide media attention and Wardale had the difficult task of speaking out against the injustice on behalf of her colleagues.