His parents, Thomas and Susanah, were not keen on his choice of career but he was allowed to leave Kent to study with Samuel Drummond in London.

The McManus Galleries in Dundee today exhibit Joy's substantial commissions to paint Grace Darling and her father William, who had become Victorian heroes after rescuing sailors from the distressed Forfarshire paddle steamer.

[1] Panmure was generous with this good-looking artist, encouraging him to visit the continent[2] and paying for John Phillip to become his student briefly in 1836.

[3] Joy married Eliza Rohde Spratt in 1839 and two years later received a Royal Commission that recognised him as an established artist.

[6] Joy was in demand as a portrait painter and he created paintings of General Sir Charles James Napier who had achieved victories in what is now called Pakistan.