Anna Mary Howitt was born in Nottingham on 15 January 1824, the daughter of William Howitt and Mary Botham, both writers. A talented artist, her drawings were used to illustrate her mother’s ‘Hymns and Fireside Verses’ in 1839. In 1846 she attended Henry Sass’s Art School in London and she knew several of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She was engaged for a time to Edward Bateman, although she broke this off in 1853. She also studied informally in Munich: her articles about Munich life were published in her book, ‘An Art-Student in Munich’, in 1853. Her work was exhibited in London and Manchester in the 1850s. Anna Mary Howitt contributed to various journals, including the English Woman’s Journal, and was a close friend of both Bessie Parkes and Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. In 1859 she married Alfred Watts, an official in the revenue office. Her artistic output decreased after this date but she continued writing, including ‘Aurora: A Volume of Verse’, 1884, co-written with Alfred Watts. Anna Mary Watts died suddenly of diphtheria in Austria on 23 July 1884 in Austria and was buried there.