Her uncle was Robert Finlay, who served as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain; and her aunt, Mary Burton, was the first female director of the Watt Institution and School of Arts in Edinburgh.
[4] Mary Rose's mother, Katherine Innes Burton, had studied sculpture before working as a nurse in the Crimean War, and was an officer in the Edinburgh Ladies' Educational Association (ELEA).
[11] Burton painted murals as well, most notably a series of panels depicting the seasons, in the dining room of St. Giles' House, Ramsay Garden, the property of sociologist Patrick Geddes.
[12][13] "Miss Hill Burton may be heartily congratulated upon the complete success of her undertaking," noted a contemporary critic of the mural.
[15][16] Mary Rose Hill Burton was active in the unsuccessful resistance against the North British Aluminium Company's plans to locate a smelting plant at the scenic Falls of Foyers, near her residence in the Highlands.