 Her father was a farmer and boatbuilder, while her mother was a former teacher.After receiving a basic education from her mother and in Tokatoka, she won a scholarship to study at what is now Auckland Girls' Grammar School (then part of Auckland Grammar School).She began to study to become a lawyer, then an unusual choice for women — when she was admitted to the bar in 1906, she was only the second woman in New Zealand to reach this stage (the first being Ethel Benjamin).