She was born in Hulme, Manchester, and brought up and privately educated in Sussex. She started painting at the age of 12 and studied at St Martins School of Art. In 1927 she married the much older Major Joseph Cuthbert Mullen, and in 1939 they were living, with her mother, in Talland, near Looe. He died the following year. She remained living in Talland and showed her work at the 1949 local 'Foresters Hall' exhibition to considerable acclaim.

In 1952 she married Dr William Edward Glover in Aberdeen. They remained in Talland until 1959 when they moved to Stoke, Plymouth. She exhibited widely and won silver and gold medals at the Paris Salon in 1964 and 1965. She was widowed again in 1969 and became a leading light in the Plymouth Arts Club.

On her death in 1995 she left over £1 million to the RNLI, and a lifeboat was acquired and named after her.