[PB: The following text appears to have been written by EJB, but may be a quotation. I have tried online searches for the text but have not found another source.]
Born in London on the 17th December 1824, and educated at Trowbridge, Wiltshire. After serving an apprenticeship to the wood engraver George Bonner in London, he began his professional career in Paris, first as an engraver and afterwards as a draughtsman on wood. Going to America in 1846 he was an illustrator for a New York paper and was commissioned by the US Treasury to design bank notes.
Returning to Europe because of ill-health, he was present in 1849 at the siege of Rome by the French, sending sketches of the scenes back to the "Illustrated London News". In the early 1850s, he produced woodcuts for many of the popular books of the period, including Harriet Beeecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Longfellow's Hiawatha and Fox's Book of Martyrs. He also exhibited "Garabaldi at Rome", painted from sketches made in 1849 at the Royal Academy in 1854, where it attracted much attention.
Drawing for The Illustrated News a group of sailors from the Baltic Fleet which is said to have attracted the notice of Queen Victoria he painted a number of pictures by Royal command, including the first distribution of Crimean medals in May 1855 (for which he was paid £300) and the first presentation of VC awards, as well as a number of others of a Royal presence nature up to 1866, all of which were exhibited at the Royal Academy during the years in which they were painted.
His critics said that "His paintings were bright and animated and gained him considerable popularity but had none of the higher qualities of art." Thomas himself said that "his great purpose was to represent every portion of his subject faithfully and that his work in after years would be valueless if not perfectly true."
After falling from his horse in Piccadilly in 1854, Thomas was only able to work part-time and died in Boulogne of a Cerebral Haemorrhage in July of 1868, leaving a widow and nine young children. In later life his widow was given a pension by the Queen.
After his death, his brother, William Luson Thomas, offered many of his remaining works to the Queen, including folios of drawings, and some were purchased. At the sale of Thomas's work at Christie's in July of 1872 a number of other items were bought by Vokins on behalf of the Queen. There are now more than 140 paintings, water colours and pencil sketches in the Royal Collection, the last known of these having been presented by his great-granddaughter in 1973.