Her father, Sir James Gosse, was a prominent Adelaide businessman and philanthropist, as was her grandfather Tom Elder Barr Smith.
[1] She joined the Searchlight Battalion, where she served as a truck driver in Western Australia, subsequently being discharged in March 1943 with the rank of Gunner.
She became involved with an Australian expatriate community, establishing the Chicken and Chablis Club, and became Lady Downer in 1965 when her husband was knighted.
The foundation works to raise funds to support the work of the Mary Potter Hospice, operated by Calvary Health Care Adelaide, and to support the development of services to the terminally ill and their families by the Hospice through the provision of additional buildings, facilities, equipment and/or services.
[6] Her body was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium in London on 22 October 2014 after a service officiated by the Dean of Westminster.