She was educated at St Anne's School, Cowgate and went on to take a certificate in sewing, cooking and dress-making at the Atholl Crescent School of Cookery and Domestic Economy. She stayed off school to nurse her mother in a protracted illness, and had a spare time job scrubbing floors and running errands for a tailoress. At the same time, she worked as a messenger with a business firm in order to help support the two younger children in the family.