Born in London Algar studied at Wimbledon School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. There she won several prizes for painting and drawing, including the silver medal for composition. She started visiting Nancledra, Cornwall in the mid-1960s, before settling in St Ives in 1976. In the 1990s she spent time in America painting and visiting collectors, exhibiting her work in San Diego and Dallas. Returning to Cornwall she settled in Marazion where she continued to paint and exhibit until her death in 2013. Her work is held in the collections of Winsor and Newton, the Falmouth Art Gallery and Penlee House and Museum, Penzance.