This happened first at home, and she was then educated at St Stephen's College, an all-girls independent school in Folkestone, Kent.
She continued her studies on a part-time basis through the University of London, and graduated with a Master of Science (MSc) degree in mycology in 1943.
[1] Because of the shortage of manpower caused by men fighting in the Second World War, "it became acceptable for women to take scientific jobs".
[2] In 1943, she moved to the East Malling Research Station in Kent, where she studied fungal diseases in apple orchards.
[1] One was at British Drug Houses Ltd where she researched the fermentation of malt extract by Saccharomyces rouxii, an osmophilic yeast.
She also researched the epidemiology of zoophilic dermatophytoses ("ringworm"); with the source of infections ranging from companion, farm, and through to wild animals.
She also showed that microsporum persicolor, formally only known from human scalp infections, had originated from the short-tailed field vole and wood mouse.
[1] English had a privileged upbringing, but she was exposed to the social deprivation that many in England had to live through during her time as an evacuee.