Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson arrived in this world on the 26th of September, 1848 in the small village of Swadlincote, near Burton on Trent in Derbyshire, England. She was the eldest of seven children born to Alexander Henry Paterson, a rural physician, and Mary Chance Herford, daughter of a Manchester wine merchant.

Within her first year of her life, the Patersons moved to Altrincham, Cheshire where Helen's father set up a medical practice and the young family grew and prospered. It was during these years that young Helen's interest and talent in art blossomed, inspired by her maternal grandmother Sarah Smith Herford, and especially her aunt Laura Herford, both accomplished artists of their day.

At age thirteen,...