Burr was born at Poltair House in Poltair, Cornwall. She was the only daughter of
Royal Navy Captain
Edward Scobell. Scobell also owned a property in London's
Dorset Square. Burr travelled widely for inspiration, and published
Sketches in Spain, The Holy Land, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece in 1841. Burr later became a travelling companion of
Austen Layard, and painted many watercolours on travels through
Egypt and
Turkey.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote descriptions of her tracings of threatened Italian
mosaics in the mid-19th century. Over the next 15 years, the couple had three sons – Higford (born 20 July 1840), Edward (born 25 September 1842), and James-Scudamore (born 15 January 1854). The couple's English property,
Aldermaston Court, was inherited by Higford on his father's death. Higford, who also took the surname Higford (after an ancestor) and was known as Higford Higford, sold the estate to
Charles Edward Keyser in 1893. == Works ==