Dora Marsden was born on 5 March 1882 to working-class parents, Fred and Hannah, in Marsden, Yorkshire. Economic setbacks in Fred's business forced him to emigrate to the U.S. in 1890, settling in Philadelphia with his eldest son. Hannah worked as a seamstress to support her remaining children, which left the family living in poverty when Marsden was a child. Among one of the first generations to benefit from the Elementary Education Act of 1870, Marsden was able to attend school as a child despite her impoverished circumstances. She proved a successful student, working as a tutor at the age of thirteen before receiving a Queen's Scholarship at the age of eighteen, which enabled her to attend Owens College in Manchester (later the Victoria University of Manchester). In 1903, Marsden graduated from college and taught school for several years, eventually becoming headmistress of the Altrincham Teacher-Pupil Center in 1908. During her time at Owens College, Marsden made the acquaintance of Christabel Pankhurst, Teresa Billington-Greig, and other prominent early feminists, and she became involved with the women's suffrage movement then gathering steam in Manchester. Marsden established a reputation with the militant wing of the movement for fierce devotion to the cause, leading one contemporary to call her "a brave and beautiful spirit," a phrase to which the title of Les Garner's biography of Marsden refers. This devotion extended to extra-legal acts of sabotage on more than one occasion.