Born in Darwen, Lancashire, her skill at painting was obvious from an early age, and she studied at Liverpool College of Art alongside Stuart Sutcliffe (with whom she competed for 'best painter in class') and John Lennon.

Her oil and gouache paintings often featured Edwardian street scenes, usually in the north of England, and drew favourable comparisons with L. S. Lowry, with whom she was often thought to be a contemporary despite being more than fifty years younger.

Well-known works include 'Piccadilly Circus', 'The New Rover', and 'Pretty Polly', with typically busy crowds fascinated with a snake oil salesman or itinerant gas iron seller.

[citation needed] While studying at art college and living at nearby Gambier Terrace, she recalled a young Paul McCartney and George Harrison coming in through an upstairs window via a back fire escape to rehearse with her flatmate John Lennon.

Ethel recalled how the birth was during an air raid over the cotton mill town, and a neighbour suggested she call her daughter 'Sirena' as sirens had been wailing when Margaret was born.

The family lived in Darwen for a number of years, where there were many aunts and uncles and Ethel's parents James and Bertha, until Alan Duxbury's accountancy job took them first to Stalybridge and then St Helen's.

She was meticulous in recording the period accurately in her work, in terms of the figures' clothing, billboards and buildings as these provided the rich content and context for which she became renowned.

Her skill in the medium was soon apparent and easily recognised from its distinctive style, and it wasn't long before her work was noticed as a result of small exhibitions in local libraries in Darwen and Blackburn.