Elsie Kelly was born in 1926 in Ancoats, Manchester. She worked as a machinist, then lived in a number of countries including Singapore as an army wife for twelve years. After moving back to Manchester, she eventually moved to Partington, Greater Manchester, where she became one of the workers in its People’s Rights office. She took part in the Lifetimes project, in which she got to document some of her life story, along with her husband Jack Kelly.