After Benenden, Vanessa read Physiology at Oxford and trained at St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, following nine generations of doctors in her family.
In 1985 Vanessa joined the British Army and following her commissioning, served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1990, while serving in Germany, she was attached to the Household Cavalry as the first female medical officer, achieving the rank of Major by the age of 31.
In 1992 while on an operational tour as part of the United Nations Protection Force in Sarajevo, she treated injured Bosnian war children under mortar fire as head of a UN Medical team.
She also treated the BBC correspondent Martin Bell at the British field hospital in Zagreb after he was injured by mortar fire. Douglas Hurd, the then Foreign Secretary, wrote about how safe he felt under her care. In an interview she was asked about the frontline risks and commented that after the dangers of the hunting field and three-day eventing – her lifelong enthusiasm for these pursuits began at the age of 13 and she would go on to become the first female master of the Oxford Drag Hounds – she was “not troubled at all by a mere civil war”. She was subsequently appointed a Member of the British Empire in the Military Division in 1993, with the Lt-Gen Sir Hew Pike telling her: “Your courageous performance and hard work are an inspiration to us all.”
Vanessa returned to civilian life, working as a general practitioner in the Barbican and serving on Benenden School’s Council from 1993, before returning to the Army as the civilian Medical Officer for King’s Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery. Over this time she was able to focus on her eventing, riding her cross-country horse Don Giovanni II, which she trained herself, going clear across country at Burghley Horse Trials in 2002 and 2003. She rode at Badminton in 2004 and also often served as the horse trail course doctor.
In April 2004 she suffered from an acute depressive illness and, tragically, took her own life. Notably, her obituary in the Guardian was written by Martin Bell. A lasting memorial was established at Benenden through the Vanessa Lloyd-Davies Memorial Scholarship and the Sword of Honour, introduced in 2018, which is awarded to the leading Cadet in the Benenden Combined Cadet Force. The School Chapel features a memorial to Vanessa, while a stained-glass window at Ilston St Michael and All Angels Church is dedicated to her, and her name is inscribed in the Royal Society of Medicine’s Virtual Roll of Honour.
Vanessa’s mother, Elizabeth, says: “The support and influence of Benenden on Vanessa’s life was incredible, and being asked to join the Council meant a great deal to her. Vanessa sang in the Madrigal Choir at Benenden, and during her time there sang in the Mozart Requiem in Canterbury Cathedral with the King’s School Choir, which she told me was one of the great experiences of her life.”