Eliza Pratt joined her family in emigrating to America in 1840; they settled in New York. In 1849 she married the prominent musician, Henry Greatorex, and it was only after his death nine years later, that she began studying art with William Wotherspoon and the brothers, James and William Hart. In 1861 she traveled to Europe and pursued her studies with Eugene Lambinet In Paris. Her work first appeared in an Academy annual in the following year, and with the exceptions only of 1871 and 1872, when she was traveling in Europe, and 1879, Greatorex was consistently and liberally represented in every annual through 1884.
In 1873 Greatorex traveled to the American West, lingering longest in Colorado, where she recorded her experiences, personal and visual, for publication. While artists roaming the country in search of new subject matter, and perhaps, patronage were common in the post Civil War period, Greatorex, as a woman embarking on such an excursion was exceptional.
Scenes from her extensive travels were Greatorex's dominant subject matter, presented in paintings, etchings, and especially in pen and ink sketches. Selections of these were published in The Homes of Ober Ammergau, 1871; Summer Etchings in Colorado, 1874; and Old New York from the Battery to Bloomingdale, 1875. Several of her sketches for the latter work were included in the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876.
During her later years, Greatorex was frequently abroad accompanied by her daughters, Kathleen and Eleanor, who were also professional artists.
