Foster was born in North Shields, but lived in London from the age of five. He studied as a wood engraver, and spent his early career working on book illustrations (London Illustrated News). In 1858 he took up watercolours, painting rustic subjects in a gentle and nostalgic manner.

Christopher Wood, in a long entry on the artist's work in illustration and painting, remarks that he painted in Surrey and elsewhere, scenes 'peopled with children and milkmaids.'  The engraving of St Michael's Mount, upon which this entry to the WCAA index is based, was possibly engraved from his drawing (on wood) by his life-long friend Edmund EVANS with whom he travelled in 1846-47 to produce a series for the Illustrated London News. The series was entitled The Watering Places of England.