Adele Marion Ogilvy was born in 1905/6 in Australia, the daughter of Adam Loftus Ogilvy and Lucy (nee Scarlett). She obtained a first class honours degree from Melbourne University, winning one of four free passages to England in 1927 to continue her studies at Newnham College, Cambridge. She graduated in 1930 after obtaining a first class in Part I of the Classical Tripos and a starred first in Part II. She had been supervised by Keith Guthrie at Peterhouse and they were engaged in late 1932, marrying in June 1933. They had two children - Anne and Robin. Adele died in 1992.