Lily Eliza Yeaman (née Martin) was born in 1926 to Catherine Ann Martin (née Davidson), who worked as a train cleaner during the First World War, and Alexander Martin. Yeaman worked as a shorthand typist before her marriage to John Yeaman on the 4th November 1950 in St Paul’s and St George’s Episcopal Church, York Place, Edinburgh. Yeaman's maternal grandfather George Davidson was an engine driver. She died in 2013.