[3] She was born in 1900 in Peaslake, Surrey, the youngest of three children of Edward William Abram (1869–1929) and his wife, Lucy, née Ashton (1865–1942).
From 1920 to 1922 she studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, where she took classes in drawing, design and structural mechanics, as well as architectural history.
[4] Jocelyn Adburgham played a significant role in contributing to radical new thinking about the design of social housing, especially in the period before World War II.
Her scheme for a gymnasium (1938) at Nonington College of Physical Education in Kent was said to be the largest timber-frame building in England and used modular components, something in which she retained strong interest in her later, post-war work.
[3] During World War II, Adburgham and Ledeboer were both appointed to government committees seeking to shape postwar public housing policy.
Professionals along with residents of new towns examined amenities, recreational facilities, transportation, social planning and the progress of democratic control.