Aldis was born between 1838 and 1840, in Kettering, Northamptonshire.[1][2] Her parents were Charlotte and the Reverend William Robinson, a pastor at the Baptist Church on St Andrews Street, Cambridge.[3] In 1863, she married William Steadman Aldis (1839–1928), the son of another Baptist minister, the Reverend John Aldis of London.[3] Steadman Aldis had been Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, but did not secure a College appointment due to his non-Conformist status.[3]