She was born in Scarborough, the daughter of a cellist, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Douglas Cameron, then in Zurich with Emanuel Feuermann.
She later formed the Loveridge-Martin-Hooton Trio with pianist Iris Loveridge and her husband, the violinist David Martin.
[3] Hooton became a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1964 and also gave private lessons in Suffolk and Sheffield.
In 1981 she commissioned Gordon Jacob to write a Cello Octet for her students at the Royal Academy.
Following her death the Academy established the annual David Martin/Florence Hooton Concerto Prize in her memory.