Ethel Rawlins was born in Northamptonshire. She studied art initially at the Slade, and then in Newlyn, possibly at the FORBES School. In the 1901 Census she is recorded as living in Penzance, and was in St Ives at the time of the 1911 Census. She was involved in the St Ives art scene until 1915.

She was a regular exhibitor at SWA until 1927, when she moved to Hassocks, near Ditchling, in Sussex. She showed her work again at SWA from 1948 until 1962, the only Cornish subject during that period being a depiction of Coverack in 1953. At the time of her death in 1974 she was living at Nynehead in Somerset.