She was among the first generation of women to take the Classical Tripos examinations at the University of Cambridge, and was the only person to be placed in the top division of the first class at the end of her third year, in 1887.
She married the Master of Trinity College, Montagu Butler, in August 1888, becoming the leading hostess in Cambridge.
She published a version of Book VII of Herodotus' Histories in 1891.