Background
Emily Ford was born in Leeds into a politically active Quaker family who moved to Adel Grange in Adel on the outskirts of Leeds when she was 15.
Emily Ford was born in Leeds into a politically active Quaker family who moved to Adel Grange in Adel on the outskirts of Leeds when she was 15.
Ford attended the Slade School of Art from 1875 and had a studio in Chelsea that was described by fellow artist, Dora Meeson as "a meeting ground for artists, suffragists, people who "did" things".
Her parents were Robert Lawson Ford (1809–1878) a solicitor and Hannah (née Pease) (1814–1886). Her youngest sister Isabella was a social reformer and suffragist. Emily Ford joined the Manchester Society for Women"s Suffrage in the mid-1880s and became vice-president of the Leeds Suffrage Society where she was an active member and speaker.
She was a member of the Artists" Suffrage League and designed a poster for it in 1908.