A student at the Herkomer School of Art, Annie Cawker was originally a painter but subsequently concentrated on weaving.  At Bushey she was a good friend of Beatrice MICHELL (later Beatrice NANCE). Some four years after Beatrice's early death she married Robert Morton NANCE as his second wife.

After their marriage in 1906 they moved to Nancledra, midway between Penzance and St Ives. In 1914, on the outbreak of War, she moved with her husband to Carbis Bay.