E. H. Young was a best-selling novelist of her time. She was born in Whitley, Northumberland, (now known as Whitley Bay), the daughter of a shipbroker. She attended Gateshead Secondary School (a higher grade school later renamed Gateshead Grammar School) and Penrhos College, Colwyn Bay, Wales. In 1902, at the age of 22, she married Arthur Daniell, a solicitor from Bristol, and moved with him to the upscale neighbourhood of Clifton.