Young Thompson's aspirations to become an artist met with little sympathy from his family, and he was apprenticed to a house-painter; but he struggled with energy and perseverance against these adverse influences, and devoted all his leisure time to his favourite pursuit.

He at length attracted the notice of Lord Lonsdale, and with his help he came in 1829 to London with an introduction to Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830), and became a student at the British Museum and the Royal Academy.

After this date he painted portraits, views of mansions, etc., but he did not exhibit again until 1847, when he sent to Westminster Hall "The Highland Ferry-Boat," which was engraved in line by James Tibbits Willmore.

In 1864, he had at the academy "The Height of Ambition," engraved by Charles Cousen for the Art Journal, as was likewise by J. C. Armytage "Drawing the Net at Hawes Water," painted in 1867 for Lord Esher, but never exhibited.

In his later years, Thompson devoted himself chiefly to landscape subjects with figures, the themes of which were for the most part drawn from the mountains and lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, but occasionally from Scotland.