Primarily a flower painter, Hay exhibited at the Baillie Gallery, London, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and at the London Salon. She was the daughter of Sir William Rutherford MP, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool 1902-3, and studied at the Liverpool School of Art. She married in 1907 the artist James Hamilton Hay who was associated with the Camden Town Group. His portrait of her, The Lady with the Japanese gown - portrait of Miss Enid Rutherford, 1907, is in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery. Enid Hay's work is held in the Government Art Collection. She painted in a broadly handled, richly textured pointillist technique.