Alice Dixon was born in London on 12 December 1851. She was the second of nine children born to Henry Dixon and Sophia Cook. Henry Dixon was a copper-plate printer who later became a successful photographer. Henry Dixon was recognized in the late nineteenth century for his contribution to the development of panchromatic photography and for his photos of London architecture taken for the Society for Photographing Relics of Old London. Alice learned the principles of photography from her father and worked as an assistant at his studio.