Christina Glassford Allan was born on 25th February 1843 to David Allan and his wife Catherine Martin Glassford. David was a lithographer and engraver, and many of the couple's children were artists, including their son Robert Weir Allan, RWS. Christina was recorded as an 'artist' in the 1861 Census (as was her sister Catherine) and as a 'lithographer' in the 1871 Census. The 1886 edition of 'This Year's Art' shows Christina and Robert exhibiting from the same address in 1885. At the time of the 1901 Census she lived with her brother James Andrew Allan. There is an entry for her in Algernon Graves's 1895 catalogue ‘A dictionary of artists who have exhibited works in the principal London exhibitions from 1760 to 1893'. She died on 17th January 1920.