Hutton was born in Dunedin in 1875, the daughter of artist David Con Hutton and his second wife Helen Bryden (died 1922).[2][3][4] David Con Hutton was born in Dundee, Scotland, and arrived in Otago in 1870 and established the Dunedin School of Art, the first such institution in New Zealand. In 1894 this was expanded to the Otago School of Art and Design which Hutton was the principal of until he died in 1910.