Edith Hume, nee Dunn, was born in Truro in Cornwall to an artistically inclined family, her brother Henry Treffry Dunn (1838-1899) was studio assistant to Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and an artist in his own right. Like her brother, Edith studied at Heatherley School of Fine Art in London, at the time the only art school that permitted women to attend life drawing classes with men. She exhibited under her maiden name from 1862, at the British Institution and at the Society of British Artists. Following her marriage to fellow artist Thomas O. Hume (1833–1893) in 1870 she exhibited under the name Mrs. T. O. Hume until following his death she exhibited as Edith Hume. Edith and her husband lived near Regents Park in London, moving to South Harting near Petersfield in Hampshire in 1878. They travelled widely, returning to her native Cornwall and to France, Belgium and The Netherlands, her early years in Cornwall had imbued her with a lifelong interest in the coast and fishing subjects, many of her exhibited works reflected this deep interest. This interest in portraying working life in fishing and rural communities is illustrated in her work for the ‘British Workwoman’, a Christian Temperance monthly magazine, which, although run by men was aimed at working women, particularly those in rural and domestic employment. Ironically, Edith’s brother Henry, following Rossetti’s death, fell into poverty and alcoholism, being rescued by a benefactor, Clara Watts-Dunton, her husband being a close friend of the poet Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909), a member of the Pre-Raphaelite. Edith had a long and successful career, influenced by her upbringing in Cornwall, and later influenced by the painters of the Hague School. She employed a gentle form of social realism, depicting men and frequently women and girls carrying out labour in domestic and rural settings, wearing the appropriate dress and reflecting their social status, the subjects, healthy and industrious, carry a moral message and values. Edith Hume exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1874–1896, at the Royal Glasgow Institute and at the Society of Female Artists. Her works can be found in museums in: Bournemouth, the Russell Cotes Gallery; London, Victoria and Albert Museum and Sheffield.