[3] Deakin was in London when the First World War broke out, but soon returned home where she joined the Australian Red Cross and completed a course in nursing.

In early 1915, she accompanied her parents to the Pan Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco, where her father was the Australian representative.

[3] Hoping to undertake some war work, in August she made contact with Norman Brookes – her sister Ivy's brother-in-law and a Red Cross commissioner in Cairo.

By late 1917, Deakin was managing 60 staff – including agents in Britain, France, and Belgium – and the bureau had to relocate to a larger building in Grosvenor Place.

[6] Deakin later recalled "we were often met with suspicion and eventually jealousy, as we had made ourselves felt as a court of appeal for relatives who were unsuccessful in obtaining satisfaction from the military authorities".

[8] In December 1918, Deakin met Thomas White, a former prisoner of war who had managed to escape from the Ottoman Empire several months earlier.

[2] White maintained her involvement with the Red Cross after her marriage, serving as Victorian divisional commandant (1938–1945) and national vice-chairman (1945–1950, 1964–1966).

[3] During the Second World War, she helped mobilise the organisation in Victoria, establishing emergency training groups and reviving the Enquiry Bureau.