Alice was the middle child of 5 children born to John and Ruth Stainer. Their home was the Old Rectory at Ashtead in Surrey. They had several governesses one of whom was the then very youthful Nora Ford who became a lifelong family friend. Lib, Peggy and Alice all started school at Downe House at the same time when Alice was quite young as it was thought Alice would be lonely at home without her sisters. She later went to the Royal college of Music where she studied the piano and clarinet.

David Pennant writes in 1995, in his Pennant Papers - "In 1933, when I was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, my friend and former school contemporary at Charterhouse, Teddy Stainer, invited me to stay at the shooting lodge which his parents shared with the Bridge family near Huntly in Aberdeenshire. For me this was an exciting adventure; it proved to be more exciting when on the day after my arrival, we all gathered at the front door to greet a new guest who had come by the night train from England. Out of the mail van emerged a slim, beautiful girl with glorious red hair: Alice Catherine Stainer. We have now been married for fifty-seven years."

They were married in 1938 and bought a house in Dinas Powis near Cardiff where David had joined a set of chambers, but the war intervened and Alice spent the war years at David's family home, Nantlys in North Wales. Evacuees were sent to the house from Liverpool but they found it cold and bleak and much too remote and most did not stay long. Pyers, Marion and Chris were born and had their early years there, living in the nursery, looked after by a nanny.

After the war they all returned to Dinas Powis and there was great excitement when an unknown major was due to return from India. As David wrote in Insects in Amber - "The platform at Cardiff General Station was crowded. Among the throng stood a mother who had not seen her husband for two years. With her were a sturdy red-haired boy of six, a toddler of two and between them an enchanting little girl who never stopped talking. Whenever a figure in khaki appeared, "Is that Daddy?" "No", "Is this one Daddy?" Suddenly a train came in. "There he is!" In a moment they were in each others arms and our small family was united at last."

On returning to the bar, at first David had no practice, no prospects, and very little income. But thinks looked up and later they moved to The Gables, on the other side of Dinas Powis, when David's practice prospered. Alice was a keen gardener, enjoyed tennis and bridge, Played the clarinet in an orchestra and organised a club called the "Young Wives". She also worked voluntarily at the Marriage Guidance Council, though as a receptionist rather than as an advisor.

When David was appointed to the Bench as a County Court Judge for Shropshire and Mid-Wales some years later, they moved to live near Dolgellau. David was pleased with the opportunities this gave him to walk and fish in the Mawddach at the bottom of the steeply sloping garden, but it suited Alice less well. She did not care for being surrounded by dripping conifers all winter, alone in the isolated house much of the time, so, after a couple of years they moved on to Poole when David was appointed as the County Court Judge for Bournemouth and Dorset. This suited them much better and they became much involved in the life of the local church, with bridge and various social activities and the garden. Alice volunteered for Meals on Wheels and was a keen supporter of the local Abbeyfield Society and the setting up and running of Pennant House, a residential home for the elderly.They continued living in Poole when David retired but eventually Alice had several mini-strokes and became increasingly frail and died in 2001. David, who had said he was dedicating the rest of his life to caring for her, only survived her by a few months.

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