Nellie was born on 16 February 1914 in the small Scottish village of Edzel in the County of Angus. She was one of 13 children. At an early age she went into domestic service with a local family and came with them to their summer residence in this area. It was during this time that she met her future husband, Harry.

They married in 1937 and moved to 8 Belsize Cottages, where they lived for eight years. For some of this time Harry was serving in the army and Nellie was bringing up their five children, Victor, George, Fay, Chris and Viv. In 1947 the family moved to 5 Croft Lane.

Harry died in May 1985 and in 1999 Nellie moved into residential care at Alexandra House, Hemel Hempstead where she died peacefully