Florence Edith Victoria Way was born on 9 October 1874, the daughter of Colonel Wilfred FitzAlan Way and his wife, Henrietta Mary (née Ross).
She married firstly on 3 December 1895, Captain (later Brigadier-General) Henry Edmund Burleigh Leach.
In retirement, Dame Florence Simpson lived with her stepdaughters for many years in South Africa.
[1] Her career began in 1915 when she volunteered as a cook in the Women's Legion, an organisation founded by Lady Londonderry to provide "a capable and efficient body of women whose services could be offered to the state to take the place of men needed in the firing line or in other capacities".
Violet Long was returning from France to give her sister a report on how the WAAC's detailed for service with the American Army overseas were progressing.