Thomas Collier was born in Derbyshire and studied at Manchester School of Art before moving to north Wales to paint in the footsteps of the great watercolourist David Cox. He moved to London in 1870 and was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours the same year.
Whilst not prolific Collier was seen by fellow artists and critics as a master of watercolour following David Cox in capturing the ‘subject’ of atmosphere and light. He was described as ‘the finest of sky painters, especially of rain and cumulus clouds’. Collier was awarded the Legion d’Honneur in 1878 for his submission to an exhibition in Paris. He visited the Suffolk coast at Aldeburgh and Southwold in July 1878.