In 1927 Hitchins moved to Kenya, to join other members of her family who had emigrated there. Frederick Soddy wrote to the British Colonial Office, recommending her for a government position.  Hitchins was employed as a Government Assayer and Chemist in the Mining and Geological Department of the Colonial Government until 1946. After her retirement, the department's annual report said of her that "she filled the post of Chemist and Assayer gaining an outstanding reputation for accuracy and complete reliability, and her loss was keenly felt by the mining industry."
In 1946, Hitchins married a farmer, John Ross Stephens (also spelled Rees).
Hitchins died in Bristol, England, on January 4, 1972.