Lella was born in Dunedin on the 20th December 1911. She was the eldest child of Robert Ernest and Ruth Davidson. She was educated at St. Hilda's, and when she first left school she stayed at home helping her mother. She was devoted to her family. During the week-ends Lella went tramping on the hills around Dunedin, either with the Otago Tramping Club, of which she was a keen member, or with her close friends Greta Stevenson and Alister Duthie. She learned mountaineering and alpine climbing with guide Kurt Suter.

In 1934 she entered Otago Hospital to train as a nurse, and four years later completed the course. Her sound common sense and her kindness and sympathetic nature made her very successful in her profession. After a period of work as a Sister, she left New Zealand in February, 1939, in the company of another nurse. It was their aim to see as much of the world as they could. [They] reached England just before war broke out. When Britain declared war, Lella immediately joined up. She was always an idealist with a firm determination to make the best possible use of her abilities. (from the New Zealand Alpine Journal, Vol.VIII, No.27, June 1940).

She died after a short three days' illness and is buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery, Le Treport, Seine-Maritime, France. AWMM