Vera Bodilly was born in Penzance in 1894, but the family moved to St Ives around 1901. In 1911 she became an art student at St John's Wood Art School under Walenn, then won a scholarship to RA Schools. She exhibited in the Salon des Artistes Francais (1925, 1926), and her titles include: My Mother and Nasturtiums. She married Charles C Oxland in 1927. Tovey notes the use of one of the Malakoff studios in 1925 for the exhibition of art needlework by Mrs Lucy Bodilly and her daughter Vera, much admired by Borlase SMART.

Bodilly died in the St Ives area in 1974.