Educated at Polesworth School, Mabel gained a BA in Combined Arts from the University of Birmingham in 1916.
[1] She introduced geology to the school as a subject in 1943 and was promoted to Senior Mistress and Deputy Head in 1954.
[3] Her students included Keeper of Palaeontology Harold Ball; Walter Mykura; Keith O'Nions; and Chris Sands, who became one of her successors.
She continued to promote the teaching of geology in schools,[4] giving reports on it to the British Association in 1949 and 1962.
In 2004–5, the Tomlinson-Brown Trust was established in the name of Mabel and her successor Geoff Brown by their former students to promote young people’s awareness of earth sciences.