Born an illegitimate child in Victorian London, Gill spent the first nine years of her life in relative seclusion with her mother, aunt and grandfather, until she was sent to Dr Bernardo s orphanage. Aged fourteen, she was sent to Canada where she worked as a domestic servant until she returned to London four years later, to live with another aunt. It was at this time she met her cousin and future husband Tom Gill, whom she married in 1907.

Despite their marriage being a troubled one, it produced four children in eight years, although the final child, Gill's only daughter, was stillborn during a difficult birth which resulted in a subsequent lengthy illness that caused Gill to lose her left eye. Shortly after...