Florence Canning is believed to have been born in Wiltshire. She exhibited in Devonport in 1885, and in Plymouth in 1895. In 1911 she joined her friend Bertha COCKERHAM who had been visiting St Ives for some years, and who had settled there from 1909. The two had previously worked together teaching painting in Yelverton, Devon, but Canning had retired from art due to extensive eye trouble. According to the 1911 Census, she and Bertha were living at Barnoon, St Ives.

Together they bought 'Ocean Wave Studio' in 1919, suggested by Tovey as probably a later Borlase Smart studio (Tovey 2009, photo of interior, p130).