Haden was a surgeon, etcher and collector. He was educated at Derby School, Christ's Hospital, and University College, London. He continued his studies in the medical schools of the Sorbonne, Paris where he took his degree in 1840. He was admitted as a member of the College of Surgeons in London in 1842. He settled into private practice in London by 1847. His interest in prints developed in the 1840s when he began studying the work of the Old Masters. Encouraged by his cousin, James Whistler, he began etching in the 1850s. He was a leader in the Etching Revival in England, and was integral to the foundation of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1880. He preferred to work directly on the plate in front of the subject. His studies of Rembrandt, besides influencing his original work, led to his important monograph on the etched work of Rembrandt. Haden became the president of the Society of Painter-Etchers. He was largely responsible for the Rembrandt exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1879, and he published The Etched Work of Rembrandt (1879). Other publications included The Art of the Painter-Etchers (1890); The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers (1891). His public service was rewarded in 1894 by a knighthood.
