An unwanted only child - whose father, Hilary, was employed in the Public Works Department in Burma - Holman-Hunt was shunted between her wealthy Freeman grandparents in Sussex, and a life of privation with the eccentric Edith Holman-Hunt ('Grand') in Kensington. Brave and resourceful, she soon learnt that adult affection was conditional, in the country, on her ability to entertain - she was constantly exhorted to 'utter' - and, in Melbury Road, Kensington, to take in and cherish anecdotes relating to the Victorian art world and her grandfather in particular. Holman-Hunt fulfilled both roles, but ultimately tired of Grand's canonisation of the great painter.