 An only child, the young Henrietta grew up surrounded by and familiar with her parents' artist acquaintances, including Sir Edwin Landseer, C. R. Leslie, and the brothers John James and Alfred Edward Chalon.She studied her craft at the Bloomsbury Art School and the academy started by Henry Sass.In 1843, when she was 11 years old, Henrietta fell in love with the 27-year-old historical painter Edward Matthew Ward (no relation); they married secretly in May 1848, aided by the groom's friend Wilkie Collins — so that her maiden and married names were the same.