 After a good general education, he found employment in a lawyer's office, then as a weaver, then as an apprentice to a Mr. Harbut, house-painter and decorator.In 1824 he was engaged as a scene-painter at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, and married Susannah Smellie, who bore him five sons and two daughters.The theatre failing, he spent two years at Mauchline, painting snuff boxes, and then moved to London, where he made the acquaintance of artists David Roberts and Clarkson Stanfield, and obtained employment as a scene-painter at the Queen's Theatre (now demolished) on Charlotte Street.