[2][3] She was born to Thomas and Ellen Langton in the Yorkshire Dales, but within a few months, they moved to Lancashire, where she was raised in a mansion named Blythe Hall, near Ormskirk.

Her family travelled extensively through Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, while the children received private art lessons from masters and exposure to literary figures wherever they stayed.

Anne continued to hone her artistic skills and to visit friends and relatives throughout Britain for access to landscapes to sketch.

[7] In 1833, Anne's brother John, after graduating from Cambridge, emigrated to Upper Canada and the family moved into a smaller house in Bootle.

Their land journey through Toronto to arrived Peterborough, Ontario, took nearly two months, due to sightseeing at New York and Niagara Falls, visiting, and several illnesses on the way.