Darton was born on 11 August 1911 in Orpington, England, into a middle-class family and hoped to study medicine, but her father's bankruptcy led her to work as a nanny and in a tea shop while saving up for the admissions fees into a nursing programme.
[1] Her experiences working in London's impoverished East End radicalized her and she joined the Labour Party.
[3] Darton volunteered her services as a nurse upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
[1][2] Despite working in difficult conditions (including a hospital inside a cave during the Ebro offensive), Darton re-diagnosed incorrectly diagnosed patients, saving them with correct treatment.
[1] Darton married British Communist Party official (and Brigade member) Eric Edney; the newlyweds traveled to China in 1949 to assist with the transition to socialism, but faced complications in their political task and were jailed for some time.