Her mother was the greatgranddaughter of Sir Francis Grant, eminent Victorian portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.

[1] She was initially taught at home, then in 1895, at fourteen, she began study at the Frank Calderon School of Animal Painting in London.

[1] The Castle was home to a world-famous arboretum, with Annesley working hard to recover from losses incurred due to death duties.

At the age of about forty she learnt the technique of wood engraving at the Central School in London under the tutelage of Noel Rooke from 1920 to 1921.

Annesley designed pageant costumes with William Conor for the 1500th anniversary of the landing of St Patrick at Saul, County Down held in 1932 at Castle Ward, Strangford.

[3] Annesley was a trustee of the Bishop Suter Art Gallery in Nelson whilst living in New Zealand, purchasing for the board when she visited England.

[4] She is commemorated by an Ulster History Circle blue plaque at the Arboretum, Castlewellan Forest Park, County Down.