[2] Mary Size was born in 1882 or 1883 in the townland of Ratesh, Kilconly, near Tuam, County Galway and attended the local Tubberoe National School.
She began her career as an English teacher at a local school in County Galway in the early 1900s, before immigrating to England.
She later wrote in her memoir Prisons I Have Known (1957), of her surprise and concern that the women there were not given a cup of tea with their meagre breakfast.
[5] More generally, most prison staff accommodation (especially in female wings), were converted cells at the ends of corridors or landings, or rooms in the hospital.
[5] Size eventually worked her way up to become the Lady Superintendent at Liverpool Prison in 1925, where she "took with her an ethos developed in the reformatory borstal system.
[11] While Deputy Governor at Holloway, Size introduced a whole range of important reforms including considerable improvements in routine and in methods of classification at the prison.
[16] More generally, Size developed handicrafts, modernised uniforms, established a canteen, introduced gardening and evening classes.
[19][18] In June 1941, Size was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King's Birthday Honours List in recognition of her work on prison reform.
"[27] Historian and academic Dr Ann D. Smith described Smith as "a sincerely religious woman [and] dedicated to her work ... Miss Size's understanding of the needs, problems and frailties of the prisoners under her care enabled her to initiate countless small reforms of routine and treatment during her periods of office at Liverpool and Holloway and, eventually, as Governor of Askham Grange.