Born in London 17 August 1755, son of a successful innkeeper in Long Acre, Holborn.
Bought up in Yorkshire by two aunts on account of delicate health. In 1769 his father died and the circumstances of the family were reduced. Thomas, who already had shown a precocious aptitude for drawing, was taken away from school and apprenticed for seven years to a designer of silk brocades.
Towards the end of his apprentiship his career as an artist was promoted by chance introductions to Harrison The Publishers and Samuel Shelby the miniaturist, and in 1776 he became a student at the Maiden Lane Schools.
In 1778 he first exhibited at the Academy where he received encouragement from Reynolds and Wilson. He was elected an Associate in 1792 and Fellow in 1794.
In 1783 Stothard married Rebecca Watkins by whom he had seven children of whom five died in infancy. He purchased a house at 28 Newman Street, off Oxford Street, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
In 1810 he was appointed Assistant Librarian at the Royal Academy, and in 1814 he received a commission from the merchants and bankers of the City of London to design a silver shield for presentation to the Duke of Wellington. Other special commissions he received include murals for the staircase at Burleigh House, the hall of the library of the Advocates, Edinburgh, and designs for the sculptured decorations for The Great Staircase and Throne Room at Buckingham Palaces, which were not executed on the death of George IV who had ordered them. Stothard also designed several of sculptures executed by Chantrey.
Thomas Stothard died at his home in London on 27 April 1834. He was buried in a vault at Burnhill Fields with other members of his family.
Though Stothard executed a considerable number of paintings in oils, and was a regular exhibitor at the Academy, he is best know for the very large number of designs he made to be engraved as illustrations to books and periodicals. It was from these that he for the most part derived a steady though not substantial income.
Transcribed from album six of [Thomas Stothard R.A. [manuscript]: a collection of upwards of 800 engravings after designs by Thomas Stothard in six volumes ]
