North considered marriage a terrible experiment that turned women into a sort of upper servant. Her inheritance depended on staying single, and she kept it. Between 1871 and 1885, she travelled to fifteen countries in fourteen years, almost always alone.

She was born in 1830 into a wealthy Norfolk family. Her father was an MP. She trained as a singer, but her voice failed and she turned to painting. She was devoted to her father and travelled with him until his death in 1869, which freed her to go further.

She painted plants in oils, not watercolours, and she painted them in situ within their habitats, including animals, people, and temples. In Borneo she painted a pitcher plant unknown to science, which was named Nepenthes northiana in her honour. Charles Darwin personally suggested she visit Australia. She completed 848 paintings in thirteen years, donated 832 to Kew Gardens, and paid for the gallery to house them herself. The Marianne North Gallery at Kew remains the only permanent solo exhibition in a major UK institution. She died in 1890.