Born in Birmingham on 22 April 1850, Lillingston came to Newlyn in about 1890, and was exhibiting from a Newlyn address from 1891. He had already exhibited at the RA in 1878, but more regularly at the RBA (SS) and elsewhere.

He remained in the Penzance area for about twenty years, departing in the early 1910s. He lived variously in London and Leamington, and was living in Plymouth by 1922. At the Opening exhibition of NAG in 1895, he exhibited The Seaweed Gatherers (which was sold), and the following year his two exhibits The Trawler and The Mount, which also sold.

At the RA he exhibited Mackerel Fishing and Early Birds That Get the Worms (1878), and Newlyn Boats (1899). In 1901 at NAG he showed Showery Weather, Scottish Moors and Newlyn - St Ives Boats, Skye (all sold), and in April 1906 A Small Catch with The (Pilots) Return later the same year.  In 1907 he sold Laid Up Fishing Boats and Newlyn Slip, others in 1908, and A Busy Day Newlyn, Pilchard Boats and Fishing Boats in 1910.

Always well represented in the NAG Sales records, his final sale before WWI closed the exhibition schedule was Gorse, sold to a purchaser from Hyde Park, London in December 1913. He died on his birthday in Plymouth, Devon, 82 years later, in 1932 (GRO).

October 2012:  Recent information has come to light suggesting he was painting in Newlyn earlier than 1891.  A work in Hayle Gallery entitled 'Old Newlyn' is signed and dated 1883.