The artist studied at the Slade School under Poynter and Legros, and exhibited from 1877 at the RA, in the London galleries and elsewhere. Successively his working addresses were London (1880), Winchelsea, Sussex (1900) and Hastings (1910). 

However, he was a signatory to the Glanville letter on building development in St Ives in 1898, indicating residence there for some period. He had worked in oils on classical themes until 1897 when he converted solely to watercolour; this may have been the point he reached when arriving in Cornwall.