Shove was born c. 1878.[1] Educated at Blackheath High School, she won a Pfeiffer Scholarship to study natural sciences Girton College, Cambridge from 1889 to 1896, before women were permitted to be granted degrees by the institution.[2][1] She therefore received her MA from Trinity College, Dublin. She was trained in research by Albert Seward.[3]
In 1900, Shove published a paper on the stem of the angiopteris evecta fern in the Annals of Science.[1][4]
Much of Shove's career was spent teaching science in schools, including Notting Hill High School.[5] She then taught botany and hygiene at universities and training colleges, including the University of Leeds, where she served as honorary secretary for a society to promote scientific discussion.[6] From 1921 to 1938, she was a lecturer in Biology at the Maria Grey Training College in Isleworth, Middlesex.[7]
In 1937 she became honorary secretary of the School Nature Study Union,[8] and was credited with sustaining the Union through World War II. She edited its journal from 1940–1953, also contributing her own articles and film and book reviews as a member of a volunteer panel which viewed natural history films at the British Film Institute.[1][7][3]
Shove was elected as a fellow of the Linnean Society of London,[9][3] serving on the Society's council from 1943 to 1947.[1]
Shove died on 17 October 1954 in Richmond, Greater London, England, aged 76.[3] Her collection of plants was accepted into the collection of Kew Gardens.[1]