[1] Winifred Knights was born in the South London suburb of Streatham, the eldest of four children of Mabel, née Murby, a former theatrical singer and embroiderer, and Walter, the secretary of a sugar plantation company.

[2] From 1912, Knights attended James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich where she showed an early artistic talent, winning both gold and silver medals with the Royal Drawing Society in 1915.

During World War One, Knights was traumatised after witnessing the Silvertown explosion at a TNT processing works in January 1917, which led to a break in her studies where she would take refuge at her father's cousins' farm in Worcestershire.

In 1919, Knights painted Leaving the Munitions Works[5] and, jointly, won the Slade Summer Composition Prize for A Scene in a Village Street with Mill-hands Conversing featuring a figure of a female trade unionist.

[3] In 1920 she became engaged to fellow student Arnold Mason and moved to Italy to complete her scholarship, living at Anticoli Corrado, a small village south of Rome.

[1] During the late 1930s Knights spent considerable time on preparatory sketches for a large commission, The Flight into Egypt, but ceased working during the World War II.

[4][11] To compete for the Rome Scholarship students were asked to paint a scene of The Deluge, in oil or tempera measuring 6 X 5 feet and which had to be completed in a period of eight weeks (commencing 5 July).

However, as time ran out Knights was forced to simplify her composition with people fleeing the rising waters and escaping to higher ground, Noah's Ark can be seen in the distance to the right.

Knights was known for her distinctive dress, a stylised version of nineteenth century Italian peasant costume, characterised by a loose ankle-length skirt, a plain buttoned blouse, a wide brimmed black hat and coral necklace and earrings.