Noelle Sandwith trained at the Kingston-upon-Thames Art School (1944-45), Croydon Art School (1946) and Heatherley Art School (1947-48). In 1950 she accompanied her uncle to Tonga where she taught and travelled. Following a sketching holiday in the outbacks of Australia, she returned to Tonga in 1953, living with a Tongan family, sketching and recording the islands' social life and customs before returning to England in 1954 to train as a nurse. Her work on the Tongan Islands has received international press coverage.

The numbering sequence in the series field follows Noelle Sandwith's list included with the text of the manuscript.

Exhibited: 1956 & 1958 in group shows at the Royal Society of British Artists; 1960 invited to exhibit at Foyles Art Gallery 'Coolibahs to Coconuts'; 1961 London Society of Women Artists; 1962 & 1965 Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions; 1969 Brighton Art Gallery; 1970 London Society of Women Artists; 1996 The Heatherly School of Fine Art 150 year Anniversary Exhibition; 2005 National Museum of Australia 'In search of the Birdsville Track'.

Represented in collections at: The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, UK; The Starr Foundation, Albion, Michigan, USA; The Museum of Mankind, London, UK; The National Museum of Australia, Canberra; The Auckland Museum, Auckland, New Zealand; The Royal Free Archives, London, UK.