Her mother and namesake Florence died in childbirth in 1875 and her elder half-sister Beatrice became her de facto parent.

He left £20,000 to each of his daughters; she and Hilda used the bequest to buy the Bury House[1] (now Grade two listed[3]), which dated from the 1600s and had good transport links to London.

She had experience working for the Odiham branch of the Growers Co-operative Union, the French Wounded Emergency Fund in London and the Belgravia War Hospital Supply Depot.

She and Hilda were concerned about the military threat posed by Hitler's rise to power in Germany and they tried to influence Neville as Prime Minister.

Ida turned her attention to helping with food supply as Britain's imports were impeded by German attacks on UK shipping.