Ethel Victoria Donald was born on 2nd November 1887 in Ipswich, Suffolk. In 1908, she qualified as a teacher while working at the school in Bawdsey, Suffolk. The following year, she joined the staff of Melton School as an assistant mistress. The 1911 census records that Ethel was lodging with Ebenezer Thompson, the school attendance officer, and his wife Gertrude in Leeks Hill Villas on Hackney Road.

Ethel had a particular talent for art and had been awarded certificates of distinction by the Board of Education in South Kensington. She developed a keen interest in first aid and home nursing and held Red Cross and St John's certificates after passing exams in Woodbridge under the tutelage of Dr William Redpath.

In 1920, she became a member of The Royal Society of Teachers. After leaving Melton in 1921, Ethel continued her teaching career at St Mary's Stoke Infant School, Ipswich, and finally retired from teaching whilst at Ranelagh Road Mixed Junior School in 1944. She died in Ipswich in January 1961.