Essie's mother, Blanche Marie Viner Moore, born in England, died when Essie was a baby. Her father Henry Moore, who ran a hotel in North Adelaide and later worked as a clerk, died when she was ten. Henry's sister, Selina (Lina) Moore, cared for her at the cost of her own opportunity for marriage, as her "intended" did not wish to bring up another man's child.
Essie attended Grote St Public School 1894-1902, leaving at the age of 16, a few months before her final exams. She married John Peake, who worked in a factory in Adelaide, but was widowed in 1918, with children aged ten and two years old. She married again, but not happily, and almost straight away left her husband, returning to her former married name. With the help of the faithful Lina Moore, who helped care for her children, she earned a living as a midwife. During the late 1920s she started a food distribution depot in Hastings St, Glenelg, for the unemployed.
Her romantic novel Of Such As These was written for a competition, and won a cash prize. Another novel, 'Fires of Unrest', remained unfinished. She died at the age of 81.
