Rosemary Barrow was born on 9 April 1968 in Skewen, south Wales, to Graham Barrow, a medical practitioner, and Jean Barrow, a housewife. Her father died when Rosemary was 18 months old and her mother remarried, to Antony Lewis who brought Rosemary up as his own child. She had two older siblings. Rosemary was educated first at a convent and from 16 at a local comprehensive school and received her B.A from the University of Leicester."Rosemary Barrow", The Times, 3 December 2016, pp. 84–85. She then completed her PhD at King's College London in 1999 with a thesis on the subject of British classical-subject painting 1860–1910.British classical-subject painting 1860–1910. EThOS, British Library. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
