Helen Howard Hatton was born in Bristol, and studied at the Royal Academy Schools and in Paris. She was the daughter of Joseph Hatton, editor of “The Gentlemans Magazine, and during the 1880’s produced many illustrations for magazines. One of Helen Hatton’s co-illustrators was the artist William Henry Margetson, whom she was to marry. She exhibited several flower paintings and figurative subjects at the Royal Academy from 1885, under her maiden name, and two more from 1895 under her married name. Her later work included genre and single figure subjects in pastels.