Margaret Clarkson was born in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, England and trained as an artist at Rotherham School of Art and Bromley College of Art. Later she became an art teacher in South Yorkshire. Clarkson works mainly with water colours and is best known for nostalgic scenes set in 1940s and 1950s England.Clarkson's nostalgic art is a powerful and important historical record of life in Northern working class households, during the post World War II years.