Rowland was born in Norfolk, England, to William Domville Rowland and Evelyn Harriet Waring. She sat for artist Ernest Gillick in his Chelsea studio; one of the most notable works she sat for was Gillick's "Ex Tenebris Lux," a bronze sculpture purchased by the founding donor of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery (now the Christchurch Art Gallery) and delivered to the gallery in 1938. Other than the period during which the gallery was closed for repairs following the Christchurch earthquakes of 2011, the sculpture has been on permanent public display from 1938 onwards. Rowland also sat for James Quinn, a royal portrait painter, who used her as a model when working on a portrait of the Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother).