Thomas Shotter Boys was born in Pentonville, London on January 2, 1803. When his apprenticeship under George Cooke came to an end, he went to Paris where he met and came under the influence of Richard Parkes Bonington. Bonington persuaded him to abandon engraving for painting. Some sources describe him as a pupil of Bonington, although William Callow, who later shared a studio with him in Paris, disputed this.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy, for the first time in 1824, and in Paris in 1827. In 1830 he went to Brussels, but returned to England on the outbreak of the revolution there. Paying another visit to Paris, he remained there until 1837, and then returned to England in order to lithograph the w...