She joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry in 1938, transferring to the Auxiliary Territorial Service when World War II commenced.

Immediately after the end of hostilities with Germany, she was posted to Hamburg to help oversee its transition to democracy and build up the local council and basic services such as housing.

After two years of throwing herself into this work, she was awarded an OBE, but had to return to Britain to be nearer to her ailing and elderly relatives.

Female recruitment was low by 1954, so she was appointed to reverse the trend; designing a popular uniform for officers was part of her strategy.

In 1961, she went to Copenhagen as Britain's main delegate to the inaugural NATO meeting of the women's services; her international peers elected her their spokeswoman.