For most of her adult life she lived with life-threatening respiratory disease. As a result she spent years at a time living in lockdown

The oldest of eleven children, Elizabeth Barrett was born in Herefordshire, England, on March 6, 1806, into a rich family. Along with the Hope End family estate in Herefordshire, her father also owned substantial sugar plantations in Jamaica. At the age of four, she started writing poems, a calling that her father supported. She received payment from her father when she was six years old for a poem that was addressed to "the Poet-Laureate of Hope End." The Battle of Marathon, an epic-style poem that Browning had written around the age of twelve, was privately published in 1820 by Mr. Barrett, though the fifty copies he printed were kept inside the family.

Around this time, Browning suffered a riding accident injury to her back, and seven years later, a blood artery in her chest burst, rendering her permanently feeble. The fortunes of her family also started to decline. Mrs. Barrett passed away in 1828, and due to poor management of his sugar plantations, Mr. Barrett was obliged to put Hope End up for auction in 1832. Before relocating to London in 1835, the family lived in rented homes in Sidmouth, Devonshire. Browning had already gained a reputation as a budding poet by the time she arrived in London.