[3] Birmingham was born in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, the daughter of Irish doctor and published black & white artist.

[4] Herbert Joseph Birmingham, and Karn Marie Nielsen, a Dane and her father's live-in maid.

Birmingham was married to botanist Arthur Alva Livingstone from 1940 living in Gosford until his death in 1951[5] by self inflicted gunshot wounds.

[3] From her time at Art School, Birmingham was hailed for her pen and ink work and identified as a student with promise.

[6] Birmingham exhibited work at the Anthony Hordern Fine Art Gallery in 1921 along with other notable women painters such as Dorrit Black, Viola Macmillan Brown, Myra Cocks, Alice Creswick, Olive Crane, Grace Crowley, Anne Dangar, Marlon Ferrier, Georgina Hughes, and Bell Walker.