Her mother died of smallpox when she was 12 years old. Her father later remarried, but Betty and her stepmother, Beatrice Thompson, did not get on well together.
After leaving school she got a job in a milliner's shop in Bournemouth.
She met Lionel McAskie at Sandown in the Isle of Wight when she stopped to pat his dog, Mikey. They married at Christchurch Priory in November 1937, shortly before her 26th birthday. She said that she wanted to be married while she was still 25.
Betty and Lionel had six children.
When Lionel was posted up to Scotland with the Army Betty and the children moved to Peebles, where their third child, Betty Christine was born.
After the war the family moved to Rochdale in Lancashire where Lionel was a GP. Betty acted as his secretary. She was also involved in making costumes for local amateur dramatics companies.
She collected historical clothing and also blue and white pottery, as shown in the portrait below.
During their retirement Lionel and Betty looked after their grandchildren, Nicola and Kegan Harrison for nine years.
Betty made costumes for the local youth theatre group "The 14-20's". She also made seashell models, patchwork cushions, dolls and other handicraft items which were sold in local shops. When the Women's Institute decided to run its own regular Friday morning craft fair she sold her goods there instead. Her granddaughter, Nicola used to help on the WI stall during the school holidays and also made some items for sale there.
Betty died of cancer in January 1989 at the age of 77.
